I haven’t blogged about Dylan and Russell my gorgeous bengal cats in ages. They’ve really grown up, but they are still very playful. Which is why I bought them this Automatic Laser Toy by FroliCat.
The Automatic Laser Toy shoots a red laser across the floor in a circular motion for the cats to chase. It has has four speed settings (slow, medium, fast and variable) and allows you to decide how long playtime is for by setting a timer (5, 10, 15 and 20 minutes).
Dylan and Russell enjoy playing the Automatic Laser Toy game. Here’s a video showing them playing with it:
The Automatic Laser Toy must be placed in the centre of the room, meaning you have to be careful not to trip on it. It works on AA batteries which is good as it makes it portable, but it does mean that as the batteries get low the Automatic Laser Toy slows down. The internal motor is noisy.But my cats love it!
Robin Williams, the Actor & Comedian recently committed suicide after suffering from severe depression undiagnosed Dementia with Lewy bodies (see Blog Correction: Robin Williams’ Cause of Death). Like people around the world, I was shocked and saddened by the news.
Here’s a brilliant Tribute video to Robin Williams; that’s just 1 minute long:
1 in 4 people will suffer from poor mental health at a least one point in their lives. And it is said that poor mental health runs in families. When I’ve talking about poor mental health, I’m thinking about the following conditions: depression, anxiety, panic attacks, bipolar, obsessive compulsive disorder, eating disorders, schizophrenia, personality disorders and suicidal thoughts.
I have suffered from poor mental health in the past. Looking at my close circle of family and friends, I know that most of them have as well. Yes to varying degrees of severity, but their poor mental health has effected their life. So I think the 1 in 4 statistic must be at best conservative. Yet there’s still a stigma attached to mental health, which seems to make it a taboo topic of conversation.
It’s time that things changed. We should talk about mental health. We should know how to look after our own mental health and how to best support our loved ones that are experiencing poor mental health. Too many people die because of their poor mental health. Robin Williams was one of these too many people.
If you are experiencing an episode of poor mental health, two useful websites are: Mind and SANE. If you are feeling suicidal please visit your nearest A&E Department for crisis support, before putting your thoughts into action.
In After The Dark it’s the last day of term and Mr. Zimit, a Philosophy Teacher challenges his international high school students to take part in one final thought experiment: It’s the apocalypse and there’s a bunker that will save some of them. There’s twenty-one of them and only ten places in the bunker. Having more than ten people in the bunker will mean that all in the bunker perish. The class must decide who will get a place in the bunker and who wont.
To help the students decide, Mr. Zimit hands them cards with skills on (e.g. Organic Farmer, Structural Engineer, Poet, etc.) for their character in this thought experiment. He encourages them to make logical decisions.
Later Mr. Zimit ups the ante by telling students that they are required to get at least one pregnancy going during the year in the bunker and asks the students to open their cards to reveal another aspect to their character (e.g. one is gay, one is sterile, one is a midwife, one will get cancer in 3 years time, etc.). Then they have to decide again with this new information who will get a place in the bunker.
After The Dark is a superb film that uses the dialogue and snippets of action to keep the watcher hooked throughout. Set in the Indonesian city of Jakarta, there are some beautiful settings in this film including Prambanan temple. The cast are mostly unknowns, but fitted their individual roles and worked together well.
There is good representation of gay people in this film. One of the students is a gay man who is out, accepted and valued by his fellow students (and there is another one that isn’t out at the beginning of the film).
The lead male character who is identified as straight, opens up his Organic Farmer card to reveal that his character is gay. He gets a place in the bunker, but when it comes to pairing up to get a pregnancy going he says he feels he wouldn’t be comfortable sleeping with a woman as a gay man. This is followed by a short scene of him and the openly gay student getting it on and then shows them becoming close as a couple.
After The Dark is a film that challenges what you believe about philosophy, logic, the survival of the human race and whether it’s important to exist or live. You’ll find yourself watching it again and again and thinking about it for days afterwards. It will be a great source of enjoyment and generate a good debate among the people you watch it with.
After The Dark is a fantastic five star film, one that has been under-rated and missed by most. It is available to pre-order/order on Amazon.
Now, as you know, I’m not one to gossip but (looks over both shoulders)…let me tell you the latest me gossip.
I had a flare-up of abdominal pain in mid-April for about three weeks. Not fun. This accompanied by two other infections and a abscess in my wisdom tooth, made me feel exhausted, grumpy and down in the dumps. I saw my GP who sent me for blood tests and referred me onto a Gastroenterologist. I saw my Dentist who prescribed some antibiotics for the abscess. Then I saw a Gastroenterologist who wants a CT scan with dyes done. This has been booked for the day before my birthday. 🙁
During this period of ill health, I realised that when I feel bad, I spend money to make myself feel better. I overspent online buying things I didn’t really need. Then when I was feeling well enough, I went to the Trafford Centre and bought these:
I did feel guilty for buying these, as I didn’t really need them. But we’re allowed to spend a little money on ourselves from time to time, right?
But that’s not the biggest piece of gossip. That would be that: I’m in a relationship. Boyfriend-A, as I shall name him here, came along completely unexpected. He’s great. Everything I want in a partner. I’m sure you’ll learn more about him as time goes on. But for now, that’s all I want to share.
I just discovered the new SimCity game (which is actually not that new. It came out in November 2013 and I didn’t know about it till now). Boyfriend-A bought me a copy and we play together. It’s completely addictive and fantastic, apart from this disaster that happened today:
Simcity Screenshot: Lizard Disaster
Simcity Screenshot: Lizard Disaster
Oh and anyone who loves anything Sim-related will be pleased to know that The Sims 4 is coming out later this year. Here’s a video:
Despite being busy I’ve managed to write, edit and submit a dystopian short story. I hope to be able to give you an update on this later on in the year. I’m reading two fantastic books: Above by Isla Morley and Thief’s Magic by Trudi Canavan. Above is a phoneminal and Theif’s Magic is a must-read for any fantasy fiction fan. Reviews on these titles will be coming soon.
I also have so many wonderful things to look forward to, including:
Going for a weekend away in A Lovely Welsh Cottage with Simon in May and then with Jayne in September.
Seeing McBusted live which will be one of my best birthday present ever. Thank you to a kind man for this.
Attending Lancashire Science Festival with Steve & Jayne. I’ve booked tickets in the moring for Dr Sarita Robinson’s talk ‘How to Power Up your Brain’ and in the afternoon Dr Ian Turner’s talk ‘The Science of Doctor Who.’
More good times with Boyfriend-A.
And celebrating the birthday’s of some of my friends and family.
Despite my health problems, I feel quite alive and happy to be living :). I can’t wait to have all of these good times and to write about them here.
Blog soon,
Antony
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Sunday 4 May 2014
About
Antony Simpson - Author, Blogger, Nurse & Witch.
Author of eight books.
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