Posts by Jacqui Dunn
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Hard News: A few (more) words on The Hobbit, in reply to Sacha,
Ha ha ha!!!
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Hard News: Floating the idea, in reply to Rich Lock,
A beeline from the beach to the sea and straight in up to dad’s waist, with a total lack of fear.
Wonderful. Some kiddies scream and shy away from waves. Perhaps it's the sudden coldness of the water, and of course, it's incredibly noisy sometimes.
I was born near the sea, but lived far inland most of my childhood. Catching a glimpse of the sea on car journeys back to New Plymouth was magical. Swimming for me was in the local rivers in the Wairarapa, or at the Carterton baths - a huge (well, to an eight year-old anyway) freshwater (um......yes, well, 'nough said probably - it was green and opaque) pool. There was a family of Dutch immigrants who would arrive, every summer it seemed, with yet another small, blonde child new to swimming, who would be thrown by her mother into the pool towards her father, and who would thrash around, little arms going like the clappers, feet paddling furiously. I was always amazed at how quickly these children mastered the swim. They had no fear, and heaps of encouragement.
Every child should be given the opportunity to learn. Pools are ideal.
On a negative note, though: I was put off going to local Auckland pools by seeing, not just once or twice, but many times, people standing over the side of the pool, hoiking and spitting and blowing snot into the wash. I found it impossible to swim without putting my head under the water, even though I'd seen these things happening and subsequently opening my eyes under water and seeing "filmy matter" floating about was it for me. Wuss....
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Emma - you unwrapped a part of me that is right back there the day we all came together in Mum's little flat the day after she died. Expecting her to pop out of the kitchen, knife in one hand - mid-preparation for a meal - "Hello, love!" But there was this emptiness instead. Her book on the table where she'd put it. (My mother died very suddenly - so suddenly I couldn't get there, though I tried.)
So, Emma, my sincerest condolences. And thank you for writing this very moving post.
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Hard News: A few (more) words on The Hobbit, in reply to andin,
It is a product of your semi conscious state. As others have said it usually occurs in a semi sleep state. It has been leapt upon by various practitioners in meditative states as being something extraordinary (a window into another consciousness if you will). But thats bullshit.
I thought myself that it was because my body was very, very relaxed. No thoughts. Near sleep, yet still aware. If I remember correctly, the state when the brain produces a particular type of wave. It is, iirc again, the state that practitioners of meditation techniques are aiming for.
I'm rather glad you said this, as I suspect I read your earlier response to mine as being aggressive. I'm not withdrawing my apology if I did indeed offend you, but wish I had put my comment in a different way. I don't have any religious affiliations - I don't wish to proselytize, nor to be proselytized - and I certainly wouldn't want to push my personal philosophy and the reasons behind it on anyone.
My point about your certainty of no afterlife was just that you couldn't possibly know. Many people believe that when the last breath leaves the body, that's it. Nothing more. They could be totally correct. The "I" that wakes in the morning would be gone. But alternatively, some part of the consciousness might survive. It's just that nobody has come back to confirm it yet. So none of us can know what the answer is until we get there. And then, it's a bit late to warn those still around, n'est-ce pas? :))
I'm going to apologize in advance to any and all students of philosophy for being, possibly, simplistic. (In particular, Ben, who didn't want to be drawn into thinking about all this stuff - sorry, Ben - it must be a bit tedious.) Also for the length of my post. And jacking the thread. (In case anyone notices, I do tend to apologize a lot - I'm told it's a trait NZers have, but maybe it's my age. It's very easy to misunderstand written words as you can't judge by looking at a person's face or hearing their tone, so being ready to offer peace seems a small price to pay if one's stepped over the line.)
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Graeme - I'm perhaps mistaken about this, but in the referendum held to decide if we were throwing out FPP, we were given no option on preferences, were we?
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Hard News: Floating the idea, in reply to Matthew Poole,
Sympathise for the pain - Entonox sucked back by me, lying on the back step with a badly broken ankle, got to the "extremely funny and I can't feel anything" stage so that the ambulance driver said "It's not that funny!" But it was!!!
Maybe you didn't have quite enough?
However, the drug they gave me in hospital so they could put my ankle in a stabilizing cast was amazing. Loss of total consciousness, no memory of anything. Oops, seem to be cross-threading here. Sorry :)
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Hard News: A few (more) words on The Hobbit, in reply to JackElder,
I often get this same feeling, usually when I’m drifting off to sleep. I’ve had this for as long as I can remember – certainly way back into childhood. I’ve never really read much into it, other than “This feels interesting”.
Likewise ditto. I was told it was just my imagination - can't say I agreed at the time. I haven't had the experience lately though.
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Hard News: A few (more) words on The Hobbit, in reply to JackElder,
Well I have satisfied myself there is no “there” after life.
Can you tell me how you did this? Without having died yourself?
Is that supposed to be funny? If you have any religious affiliations please declare them now. And it would take more time than I have to devote at the moment. If you are genuinely interested I will write it all down at some later date.
It was meant to be taken lightly. Of course you can't tell me - you're obviously very much alive. I was being quite flippant and I'm sorry if it annoyed you.
ETA: Oops, this was not in reply to you, JackElder, it was to Andin. I was trying to be clever, doing two replies at a time, to different people. I've just found out it doesn't work!
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I used to love Piha - bouncing around in the waves; skidding up the beach on my bum, getting my togs totally full of sand - (interesting shape it makes your rear end and so hard to get out). Best, but sadly, last day I had was several years ago on Waitangi Day with some friends from Wellington. We laughed all day, being tousled and roughed up by the waves, tossed around like little kids.
I guess it was the near-miss, inches from my head, by a boogie board and an out-of-control large body (mind you, that's what being tossed around in big waves does - makes you out of control - part of the fun) that made me less keen to enter the water at Piha....went instead to Muriwai and got a real fright when, even though the water was only mid-calf, I couldn't walk against the pull and surge. As near to panic as I have ever felt.
It's a pity, I think. There's something wonderfully freeing about being turned topsy-turvy, willy-nilly - best fun you could have outside sex perhaps?
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Hard News: Floating the idea, in reply to Islander,
I discovered for myself an unconventional backstroke – which was great, but which was basically hauling myself through the waters with my strong young arms & quite powerful shoulders
Snap. Couldn't do overarm to save myself, but won races with my backstroke. I could also do breaststroke quite well, but wasn't very fast.