This day was spent recharging my batteries. I had been for a walk with Leia earlier on, but when at home, once left to my own devices, I decided to watch the next instalment in The Maze Runner trilogy.
The film was criticised for issues with character development, but bearing in mind that this is a teenage film, not one for adults, it was a good film. The plot was not as predictable as I feared it would be, and overall, I can see why my daughter likes the books. The issues I had with the film were minor, and I think that it is a shame I did not taken the, into watch this when it had come out.
Today was an unproductive day. Well, not as productive as I would have liked it to be. I did go into work, but did not work as efficiently as I would like. When at home, while my wife was watching Criminal Minds with my daughter, and my son was on the Nintendo Switch, I watched The Maze Runner.
I had tried to watch it before, but only got to watch the first few minutes. I had heard a lot about it and I was glad to watch it. I have to say, I really liked it, but was left wondering how the star and romantic lead were teenagers when the back story about the characters came to light.
But this is a film for teenagers, and I can see why my daughter liked the book.
While I watched this on Wednesday, I felt that considering that all the other episodes have been discussed, this deserved it's own post as well. Mainly because of my annoyance at the difference in how people are being made to face the consequences of their actions. Being a nerd, the way one has been judged compared to the other is an issue which I find hard to move on from.
Overall, the episode was quite sweet, well the positive parts were. Not counting the trauma of course. Part of the reason that this may not grate with me is that the only identification I had with this was the inability to ask a pretty woman for a dance when I was younger. Saying that, Clay is far cooler than I was when I was that age.
We finished watching this yesterday. We had started to watch this before but had to stop to get sleep. This episode raised quite a few issues which my son and I disagreed on. I felt that one person in the school was being unfairly penalised for what they did when their peers were in essence getting away with the actions that they took. But it is easier for all of us to deflect the blame on others than to accept our own failings.
It did bring up an issue of how some people are punished less than others based on who they are or the background that they are from, an example that I discussed with my son was the case of Brock Turner and how he 'got away' with a lighter sentence after a horrific sexual assault on an unconscious women, and how this was perceived to be based on his privilege. My son does not know how this issue will be revisited in later episodes.
In essence we disagree. I feel that the subject of this tape, while wrong in what he did, does not deserve to be singled out for retribution. My son felt he did. His view on this may change tomorrow, or may change after watching other episodes. But I did remember that discussing the episodes is not about me forcing my view on him, but to learn about his view on the issues raised as well.
My wife found I Care a Lot hard to watch and had very strong feelings towards one of the characters in this film. It addresses Elder Abuse and the financial exploitation that occurs towards some of them.
Working in healthcare, this is something that I have to be aware of, and something that I have taken action against. The film does address how hard it can be to pick it up, though what happens in the film is harder to take place here in the UK.
It is a great film, one that I would recommend to all, but due to its subject matter, I would not watch it if you have been affected by the issues raised in the film. Not knowing much about this, the film was full of lots of surprises and was not one that I could really predict, a feature in films that I value a lot. I have to say that this does live up to the recommendations to watch it. The most important recommendation about this film is not to watch the trailers as they will stop you from fully enjoying the film.
Yesterday I went for my first bike ride of the year, this being with my son. I have not been on my bike as much as I would like to be, notably since late December. This time last year, I was still cycling about eight miles on a Wednesday to my other job and cycling back afterwards. Due to the pandemic and working from home, that is not taking place now and after stopping that, I realised just how much exercise I got from it and how important it was to helping to keep my weight down. I continued to cycle to my work on weekends, but stopped this at the end of last year as my daughter wanted to come into work with me so that she could do her homework in one of the rooms.
I would still cycle on a Wednesday until we got Leia and since I have been working to vaccinate people (or most of the time, mixing the vaccines) on a Wednesday, I have been cycling even less. So the need to get on my bike was very important. This was even more important as my son rides his bike to school and we wanted to ensure that he was able to do so as he has not been very active over lockdown.
Last week had not been a good week for my relationship with my children, and on Saturday this appeared to get even worse. Saturday had amazing weather, but my son did not want to use this to cycle. He insisted on cycling on Sunday which was not going to be ideal as I was working in the morning. On Sunday morning before I went to work, this did not look like it was going to be a good thing as it was cold and foggy.
When I got back from vaccinating, I showered and got to eat my lunch and recharged by batteries before we went on our bike ride. I have to say, it was really enjoyable, and I was very impressed with my son who was fitter than me on the way to his school and while, as usual, I was better than him on the way back, there was not much difference in it. The most important part of this is that his road awareness was much better. My only concern was his lack of awareness of the dangers of cycling with the sun being low in the sky, but he did really well.
I do hope to continue cycling with him before he returns to school, as well as cycling for my own health, fitness and enjoyment.
