Well, Back to my Virtual Pensieve

Anyway, here I am again. I'm back at the computer screen to try and figure my thoughts out. And, well, force you people, who are kind enough to condescend to reading my blog, to wonder at my sanity.
Do you ever have one of those weeks where things just seem to end extremely well? I've had a week from Hell. Literally. The things and people that usually keep me going just weren't there... and I really just wasn't feeling it. Anyway, but looking back (never curse the watchmen!), I see that it's been an amazing week! Why? Well, I'm sure we'll find out soon enough!
In the meantime.... here are some thoughts
I watched the Wedding Crashers tonight. My brother and the Filson sisters (minus the eldest!) and I went out with the goal of going to Harry Potter 4... and found ourselves at the cheap seats watching an extremely obnoxious, sexually saturated, hilarious film... that brought back more memories than I would've liked... (this wasn't my first viewing of the film)
Anyway, what really struck me this time around was the concept of family that this film shows in the backdrop of a standard love story. For those of you who have not seen Wedding Crashers... look it up on google or something... I'm sure you can find a synopsis somewhere... Anyway, the family in question is the Cleary family (wealthy, American... the family of our heroine). They are so dysfunctional that it is unreal. Yes, I realize that it's a comedy... but let me finish! (Sam, don't click the comment button just yet!) Right... back on track: the grandmother is crazy - she's all sweet on the outside and old and bitter on the inside.... swears and is crazed and the like! (much like a teenage boy--it's just that when it's gramma we get shocked!) Anyway, the dad has something to do with finance in the government... extremely powerful... the mom is, well, looking to have fun (for those of you who liked Jane Seymour as Dr. Quinn "medicine woman", I suggest NOT watching this film). And the kids... well, the kids... let's see... 3 girls, 1 boy. Eldest gets married (that's the wedding that gets crashed) - so we don't really see her much, except to know that her wedding is exceptionally cheezy! (I hope that I'm NEVER my husband's first mate, and he my captain!) The other two daughters.. one is our heroine, and the other is a sex crazed lunatic who enchants our hero's best friend... and the son? Well, crazy, teen-aged, homosexual artist... need I say more?
And, yet, with all this... I wonder, exactly how odd is this all-American family? We all have that crazy uncle or aunt... and family members that we just plain ol' regret to have blood ties to... and grandparents that our parents try to keep quiet at the dinner table so that we kids would still learn the meaning of respect... maybe not to the extreme as presented in this film... since, well, comedies are virtual caricatures of awkward situations... but really think about it...
And, going back to the love story part of it (I really should stop watching these films...) anyway.... how odd is it to meet someone and fall in love with them within a short while? Or know, at least, that you're going to?
For that matter, what is love? (age old question, I know... but I wouldn't mind your input!)

On an competely other note... I've been wondering (I hate social sciences, but Hell! they're getting me to psychoanalyze every little thing in my life...) about this amazing piece of technology called the internet (Sahar, if you're reading, now would be the place to stop... You'll only roll your eyes at the rest of this and I want to save you the pain and energy - hey, what are friends for if not that?). Anyway, I have a lot of friends that I have not seen, literally since I met them. It's a side-effect of travelling and being a Baha'i. These things happen! Well, so as of late, it's been really disconcerting for me to maintain these friendships in this way. I'll give you an example. It's possible now, using msn, skype or countless other internet messaging programs... to have free voice conversations.. so forget text messaging... you can actually talk to people, internationally or domestically, just by having a good internet connection! And, if you have one, you can add webcam to that, too... and then actually see the other person.... In addition, you can exchange music, email, discuss whatever (for example, Thursday evening found me looking up French words for a friend that lives in London, Ontario), while doing all these things.. so sometimes, the discussion groups that I hold at my house, I'll discuss and plan with a friend who lives miles away... This is nothing new to any of us, right?
Well, see, fine.. but how are the members of such a culture affected? That same friend who I was looking up french words for... when I went to get my dictionary from the shelf.... I wanted to physically pass her the book! At school, I look over my shoulder, or I see someone or something... and I have the impression that so-and-so is over there... I know it's crazy... but think about it this way... I have the most intense and fun conversations ever, over the net... I can plan whole events with someone who won't probably won't ever be able to attend the product of their work... and one of my closest friends will tutor me in physiology the night before an exam.... but I can't have coffee with any of these people. But it feels like they're right there...
This puts a whole new spin on virtual reality, eh?

Anyway, those were my thoughts of the day... why don't you leave yours?