What’s up peeps? It’s time to return to the weird and whacky world of the Meerkat Muse!

Let’s start with familiar territory.

Dreams

By now, my dreams are clearly the glue that binds these Muses together. I have had a couple of particularly interesting dreams lately. I’ll start with a very meta dream.

So, I was at work, and had my appraisal. This, for some reason, required me to slide through some kind of giant soft play area, and at the end, there was a toy store, where my brother was asking questions about F1 cars, and there may have been something about Levar Burton (Geordi from Star Trek: The Next Generation). Then there was something about Homer Simpson flying a plane (because that wouldn’t be terrifying!), and sure enough, crashing it. Then I was on my way to work, and it was dark, and I was initially alone. Following on from this, I was telling my manager about a dream where she required me to slide around in a soft play area for my appraisal, which means at some point, I’d been dreaming within the dream!

Then again, it might have been a different dream, for I did wake up at one point with a dead arm, where I’d been sleeping on it.

The other noteworthy dream featured my mother forcing me to learn karate, in a very traditional Japanese setting, meeting a guy who had the exact same Zelda tattoo as me, and being worried aliens were outside the house, waiting to abduct me. So, quite a normal, sedate dream by my standards.

If I were to ever consultant a dream specialist (not that I place a lot of stock in such things), they’d probably run screaming from the room.

More Stress

Do you have a day where nothing really goes wrong, but everything is faintly irritating? I had one of those the other day. Little things like dropping a phone, or spilling a liquid, or mis-typing a word more than once, annoyed me quite a lot the other day. This theme then continued into the following day at work, which was filled with non-stop phone calls, customers (and colleagues) pulling me in different directions, and the overall feeling that I could not settle into any kind of equilibrium.

Any and all bids to find inner peace have been somewhat scuppered!

Cinema Sting

As I usually work weekends, going to the cinema as a family unit can be difficult to schedule. Thus, on the rare occasion where I had a Saturday free, my wife, daughter and I thought we might see the new Puss in Boots movie. Initially, my wife was going to book online, using vouchers she’d received to get more or less free tickets. The sting in this tale is that our local cinema now operates (and perhaps has operated for a while) with hidden extra charges. There is the online booking fee (that you don’t pay at the venue), which has recently gone up, and there is an extra quid for both weekends, and premium, popular films.

This is quite cheeky, for this cinema company knows that most families will go and see popular family films, and they know weekends are usually the only time families can go. I fully understand that they want to make money, but in the middle of a cost of living crisis, this feels like they are just being greedy.

Speaking of cost of living…

Bills Bills Bills…

Whilst Britain stares down the barrel of ever-increasing energy bills, Shell has reported their highest-ever profits, coming in at a staggering £32.2 billion, which is double what they did last year.

Considering the hikes in pretty much every bill, this is obscene, but you can bet the Tories will do absolutely nothing in terms of a windfall tax, and meanwhile, our energy bills will only go up. We are already among the most expensive countries in Europe for energy bills, and our government is doing nothing to ease the burden on hard-working families.

Our economy is set to be one of the weakest in the developed world this year, even weaker than Russia’s, which is well and truly shambolic. The Tories are pretending everything is fine, whilst they remain gripped by internal turmoil. They are completely unfit to govern.

Part of this relates to Brexit, though the BBC often omits this from its articles on the UK’s struggling economic situation. Only they know why they won’t mention it.

This country is racked by strikes, because the Tories are ruining the NHS, education, and pretty much everything they touch, and meanwhile, instead of tackling the problems they have made, they are trying to ban what they determine to be ‘disruptive’ strikes. The whole point of a strike is to be disruptive! If it does not convey some kind of impact, it is meaningless.

Trying to Let Go

As long-time readers of Meerkat Musings will know, I have spent many years discussing and debating society and religion with a certain fundamentalist Christian. I am sorely tempted to continue to rebuke his absurd claims, especially the ones he makes about me, but also the ones he makes about my pal, Bruce Gerencser. The trouble is, the fundamentalist shows no sign of the capacity for kindness, nor reason. It is unlikely he will stop the commentary upon my site or Bruce’s, no matter what I say in response. Is it there worth continuing any sort of dialogue? As I said, I spent years debating him, including providing links to numerous sources on numerous topics, and he has ignored all of it. How many more years do I want to devote to this fruitless cause?

The trouble is, I do not take kindly to dishonest misrepresentations of me being put out there. It is one of my hot buttons. I do not like to let what I consider to be outrageous statements (be they about me, friends, or groups) let stand without some form of rebuttal. Perhaps I need to learn to let go. Hate has hardened certain hearts, and I do not want it to harden mine. The fundie won’t change. He can’t change. If the Bible declared the sky was green, he’d insist it was green, despite the evidence of his own eyes. There is no reasoning with an individual like that. Therefore, the response I had prepared to his latest round of slurs and lies will be buried. There is no point in perpetuating the cycle. All I can offer him is my pity. I hope he learns to live and let live.

Cinema Days

It is somewhat rare to have a Saturday off work, so when one came along, my wife, daughter and I took advantage of these circumstances, and exploited some cinema vouchers, to go see the new Puss in Boots film. I had heard great things about it (and due to the gap of a few months between the US and UK release, see quite a few clips), and it did not disappoint. The film is very funny, has something to entertain all age groups, and offers a lot heart-felt depth too, particularly about who we are when forced to confront our mortality. Afterwards, we grabbed lunch at a local Harvester restaurant, and the rest of the day was spent waddling rather than walking!

Thai Nights

The other Sunday, we ventured out as a work crew, to a local(ish) Thai restaurant, that we have been to before. This establishment has, err, established itself as being really, really good.

Did we over-indulge? Maybe.

These occasions are somewhat rare for us as a work team, so it’s nice to unwind and relax outside the store. I think we all felt very full following the meal, so it was another case of waddling rather than walking!

Goodbyes

The day after this Muse goes live, I will bidding farewell to one of my aunts, for the final time. I am dreading it, as I always do, because I am never ready to say that last goodbye. No matter what, no matter how much warning you may have, nothing prepares you for the loss of a loved one. My aunt was also a mother, grandmother, and sister. She had been a part of my life from day one, and it is surreal and sad to think she is gone.

This is a time where I cannot help but reflect upon the passage of time, and how everything, ultimately, becomes a memory. With that thought, I wish you all love, and I wish you all to make happy memories.

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