Stone Voices

I have become rather addicted to the Daily Show. We get it in New Zealand, and its only a day behind, well its not really a day behind, it’s the whole time difference thing. I’ve been watching for a while and absolutely love it. Some of the stuff is totally American centric that I’m not sure about but the good thing about how widely sweeping American issues are, even I know what’s going on in this little corner of the world.

I ended up on their website and have been rewatching old interviews and segments. And I found the link to the Colbert Report. We don’t get that here, but after watching so many of the tosses, and the whole Steven/Jon/Conan fight during the writer’s strike I wanted to see what it was like, and I have to say I’m getting addicted to that too. I am turning into such a geek.

School, well I’m finally on track with that. I feel really good about it, although some of the readings are tough slog. I can’t read them online, I just get really dissoicative and blank out on what I’m reading so I’m having to spend a fortune on printing but I don’t really mind. I posted my first part tonight online and although I think its crap it’s done (and yes I’m aware everything I do I think is crap).

My love life is a fucking mess. I have these two, hell I don’t even know what to call them, so I’ll go for friends. Anyway, they both flirt. They both talk openly about sex, and I get the feeling they are both completely playing me. I like them sure, but one I’ve met and really like and he won’t commit, one talks to me all the time, says in amazing and she’s falling for me but wont’ even meet me. You know what I think it is, I think because I said I’m no longer willing to do the casual sex thing anymore I’m simply not worth the effort to put any real work into. Part of me just wants to say fuck it, I don’t care anymore, go away and leave me alone. But then I think I am so damn lonely most of the time that texting and messaging is better than complete aloneness. Man I’m that pathetic.

I have panic attacks when I peel garlic. It only happens with garlic and only during the peeling process. I can chop it, cook with it, eat it without any trouble. I have no frecking clue why, its not like I have some secret garlic trauma in my past. But yet every time I peel the stuff I start shaking and want to curl up in a ball and scream.

It’s so frecking cold.

Bounces and Waves to Sassy.

Ok that’s done.

A few weeks ago I got my period. Nothing terribly odd about that except it was one of the major pushes for me to give up smoking. Let me explain and be warned this is probably going to be one of those squicky things for anyone that thinks menstruation should never be talked about.

So as I was saying I got my period, it came on a Friday, the day after I did my weekly shopping. I thought I had tampons in the cupboard but found none there. Now as fate would have it that period cycle turned into a normal one, which for me is abnormal. So I had 4 days of dealing with blood flow, and most of it a strong and steady flow (I did warn you). Now a box of tampons isn’t that expensive in the grand scheme of things, but as I wrote earlier, my finances were so tapped I couldn’t afford to feed myself some weeks so an extra 5 bucks just wasn’t available.

I couldn’t just shoot up to the supermarket the next day and get a box so I had to, well, improvise. Now if you consider we can’t use the pad type protection because they are just too triggering I’m sure you can understand how much worse it was having to use toilet paper to keep myself as clean as possible. It was a mess and we were so triggered I think we are still recovering from the experience. And the added humiliation of knowing how easy it would have been to prevent if we just had a little money, we decided it might be a good time to give up smoking.

So the reason I bring this up (other than to make readers go eww) is that this last week when I went down the hygiene aisle in the supermarket I thought about getting tampons, but decided I had another week at least until it arrived, and so I brought soap instead. I hate the smell of normal soaps, so buy either Dove or fancy stuff, its more expensive but at least I don’t go ick every time I wash. I have Johnson’s non-soap stuff in a pump but its just not pretty. God I just rambled about soap, anyway…. So I didn’t get the tampons, there is still a need to budget after all.

I get home, the next day I get my period. Yes I swear it’s a conspiracy. But this time, I had $10 in my wallet. It was a pain to get all the way to the store again and sad that my “coffee” money had to go on something else, but it wasn’t the trigger fest of the week before and I didn’t feel like I was a complete loser. As much as I miss smoking, its things like that that remind me why I have said goodbye to my dirty, and well loved habit.

So now, my sex life, let’s move from one disaster to another shall we.

I really don’t know if anyone reads this anymore or if they do they have that good a memory. So, let me start a wee while back. I have had an ongoing relationship with a man called Brian for a while now. Well when I call it a relationship I think that’s really the wrong term and the root of all the confusion and frustration.

I have known Brian for a couple of years now, it started as casual sex and then friendship and casual sex. But for some reason over time that wasn’t working for me, I felt, well I felt like a shameful secret, good enough to fuck just as long as no one knew you were doing it. So I gave him an ultimatum basically. Do more things that could be classed as dating or I can’t do the sex thing anymore. It wasn’t a threat or a manipulation it was just setting a boundary, and I actually felt good about it, even though it did mean that we stopped seeing each other. A few months after that I met David and started a relationship with him. Brian got into contact a few months later, and I told him that he had lost his chance, but the friendship offer was still on the table. And that’s what happened, for the next few months, we mostly just talked online, he popped in for coffee a couple of times, but there was nothing sexual about our friendship anymore.

Time moved on, David left me (bastard but that’s a different story), and quite a few months after that, well lets just say I was horny and one thing lead to another. It wasn’t the smartest move, but hey, sex.. can be fun. And it actually got us talking, sharing some stuff. I didn’t fall into the old patterns though, well not completely, there was a bit of fooling around, but sex was off the cards. Sometimes when he’d pop in to see me there was a bit of touching, kissing and the like, all which lead to well, sexual frustration. He explained some of his personal hang-ups and I did my best to talk through them. He gave me his cell number and we went out, ended up having coffee in town, nothing big but still, I thought things were changing. Then in January he mentioned he was going out with his friends that night, normal conversation for us, until he said he wondered if I wanted to go with him. At first, yeah I thought it was a non-question, a would that be something you would do, rather than actually asking me out. It was though, he said he wanted me to come with him and when I said yes, he said he’d text me back when he found out where they were going. A month and a half later I’m still waiting to hear from him.

I know it’s over, I know I let someone in and got played for it. It hurts. I’m pissed I allowed myself to believe all the crap he told me, all those right things that made me feel special, that made it seem I was important to him. The scary thing is I think if he turned up, told me he just got frightened and wanted a second chance I would let him. It doesn’t help I don’t have a cadre of close friends to kick my arse for thinking about doing that. He was just someone that knew what to say to me, that could make me laugh, that could hold a proper conversation with, I don’t think I ever got to the point of being in love with him, but I liked him an awful lot, enough that this really sucks.

Through Brian I met a friend of his, at least I met her online. The first wee while I knew her, well I’m not even sure I liked her, let alone why I kept talking to her. I think I sometimes find immature annoying people amusing sometimes. We did stop talking for a while though, when she said if we ever met she wouldn’t take no for an answer and I wouldn’t know what hit me. I told her I didn’t really like spending time with rapists. The odd thing though was for a while she’d message me on MSN with “hi” but before I even got a chance to find the h key to write hi back she’d signed off.

Last week however she stuck around to talk. We did talk quite a bit and it got deepish. I think it started when she brought up Brian, since he’s a mutual friend. I told her I hated being played and was just going to remain single. She did her normal flirting, which is less flirting and direct sexual advances, but as I always blatantly ignore that sort of stuff it didn’t last long. We actually got to talking, and she said that the last few months had lead her to look at her life and not like what she saw, that she was trying to make changes. Now the cynical jaded part of me thought, wow, that’s a different approach to getting in my pants. But I didn’t say anything, I just responded to those sort of things how I always would. Honestly, bluntly, intelligently, without throwing my legs into the air screaming take me now.

Now to be honest I don’t know if it was all a big act or not. We talked quite a bit then she vanished. It would appear she wasn’t getting the responses she wanted and just gave up but she was also using MSN which isn’t the most reliable medium to talk in. It has been two days since the abrupt end to the conversation so I am actually leaning towards the opinion she realised she was wasting her time. But it all got me thinking, about how I miss relationships, I miss the sex yes, but its more than that, I miss the interaction, the plain fact of having someone in the room with me. I doubt this woman was actually offering that but it just made it clear how long its been.

The other aspect that is really clear, it seems I am someone that is really good to talk to, someone people feel they can open up and share personal details with. It’s not just this woman or Brian. I met another guy a few weeks back, really cool guy and we’re slowly developing a friendship by the looks of things. We met on a bdsm dating sight and after a couple of emails decided to meet in town. I didn’t expect to see him again to be honest. We met, we talked, I left thinking nice guy don’t want to kiss him. I had given him my email and cell phone though, because he was a nice guy and I really enjoyed talking with him. I didn’t want him as a lover but he would have been nice as a friend. I thought though, no way would he contact me. I was surprised though after a couple of days to get a message from him saying the same sort of thing, an offer of friendship rather than romance.

People seem to like talking to me, seem to think I can keep stuff private, and listen without judgement, that I will be helpful, encouraging and supportive. I’m glad for that, I like having that, being that. I do like being the type of person others look to in that way but sometimes I want more that to be a mentor, confidante or friend, sometimes I also want to be special. Which brings me back in the circle of why I keep falling for Brian’s game.

I made a new year’s resolution to get back into the habit of journaling and you can all see how well that one went. Still, there is hope I tell myself as I stare at this trying to work out what I want to write about.

I haven’t had a smoke in twelve days. And although I want one every day, I’m doing pretty well with the cravings. I had a couple of days of bitching at anything that moved and completely avoiding people at the risk of taking some innocent person’s head off. I did actually have a smoke in the last twelve days, but I don’t think one smoke on day five should count, plus it was a helpful smoke because, fuck, did it taste bad. I hated every puff of the damn thing. I try to remember that when the “god I want a smoke” cravings kick in.

I gave up simply because I couldn’t afford them. I live on about $80 a week for food for me and the cat, bus fares, and any extra bills (rent and utilities come out prior to that). It’s tough enough to live on that much but not impossible, you just have to plan ahead if you want to go to the movies or something. But when you take in smoking well, it was just proving impossible. I was spending an average of $50 a week on tobacco. And for me, Lucy and the bus driver, well $30 doesn’t cover it.

When I told my therapist I gave up smoking because I couldn’t afford them, he tried to get me to give him a positive reason for the decision. He said I always make it seem my decisions come from negative places, which ok, is true, but in this case it is also true that the only reason is a negative one. I don’t want to give up smoking, I love smoking, I don’t give a shit that it’s bad for you or anti-social or a form of slow suicide. I miss my cigarettes. If I had some way of affording them without struggling so bad week to week I would go right back to smoking. I think I am pleased that I am managing to give up, just not pleased to have given up.

Ok moving on from cigarettes because really all writing about smoking makes me do is want to smoke.

P.S. I disabled the comment function, sorry but until I can find a way to stop myself being spammed constantly I prefer to just not have a comment option. Friends if they read this will know my email.. or just use the email link over there <———–

I managed to put my neck out. Well not sure if its my neck or my very upper spine, but whatever it was, I’ve been in a lot of pain these last few days. For the first couple of days I couldn’t turn my neck or move my shoulders without a lot of pain. It made things rather difficult. It’s gotten better, slowly, but still not better. The worst part is it is the sorest when I am lying down, so sleeping has been a pain, and it seems sleeping on the side I prefer is the worst for it. So I haven’t had much sleep these last few days and wake up even sorer than when I went to bed.

My mother came down this last week. It wasn’t the best visit. Somehow a chat about game shows turned into a, well, not fight, I couldn’t be bothered fighting with her, but her telling me I was wrong and didn’t know what I was talking about. We were talking about game show hosts and who would host Millionaire. She said she wanted Simon Barnett, and I just can’t stand the man, for many reasons. But I mentioned I didn’t like his attitude when he was protesting the no-spanking law. I should have known not to mention that, but well, sometimes I just don’t want to have to censor myself all the time.

I know the spanking law is rather controversial. I also don’t expect everyone to agree with me. But for, probably obvious reasons, I am very pro a law that says it is illegal for parents to hit their children. Basically the law was to remove an old law that said parents were allowed to use “reasonable violence” to discipline their children. So many parents that were abusing their children and could afford a good lawyer were able to get off charges by claiming it was reasonable force. Of course many people were up in arms because they we no longer able to spank their children. It is illegal to smack an adult, if you hit an adult and they want to, you can be arrested for assault. But children never had the same right. I don’t believe in violence as a discipline tool, I don’t believe it does any good and I don’t believe it is the only or the best option. I just don’t.

But my mother made it known I don’t have a right to that opinion. No surprise there, I’ve never had a right to an opinion that differed from her. So as we sat in the cheap yucky café she took me too, and she told me I was not only wrong but stupid. I don’t have kids so what do I know about raising them. Never mind I helped someone raise her two kids for 18 months, and actually have studied child development. And yes I know that’s different than being an actual parent, but it also means I’m not totally clueless. It also seems children are idiots and the only way to get through them is to smack them, and when parents do that, its not only correct but amusing.

Luckily I don’t think I was the type of company my mother wanted me to be because she took me home rather quickly. Oh and about the crappy café. When my parents use to come down we would go to the pub for lunch. The pubs we would go to were well, basic. A few visits ago I told her I would meet her at the café up the hill instead. I much prefer it than going to a pub. It had really good coffee, and proper food. Anyway, for some reason the place has closed down, so I said go into town and we’ll get something there. Around the octagon (sort of the central point of town) there are a lot of very nice cafés. Yes the food is a bit more expensive than getting a sandwich or a sausage roll.

A little history lesson (this is getting long and complicated). For a while Dunedin was pretty much a backward town. In a lot of ways it still is. But if you went out for a meal, it would be steak and chips, there was no ethnic food, no stylish food. Cafes were non-existent. There were places, but you got percolated cona coffee only and food was basic sandwiches, pies, and cheese rolls. Basically we were stuck in the 50’s. This has changed, we now have some really good barristas, and food options.

But my mother came down on a Wednesday. I get my money on a Thursday so I’m lucky to have even a couple of dollars left by Wednesday so because I couldn’t pay my own way I just went where they wanted. I suggested a couple of places, although I wasn’t sure of the food I knew they made good coffee. But my mother wanted to go to this place. I didn’t know why, but I knew it was of the old style. So we get there and they only have cona coffee, which ok, it had caffeine in it, but when I go out for coffee I want good coffee.

The funny thing was even my mother was disappointed in the food, not because it was the old 50’s style of place, but because they didn’t have as many varieties of sandwiches. She said something about how much it had changed from when she used to go there. I asked when that was and she said before they went to Kurow. Ok, that’s about 15 years ago. Umm, of course its changed, its probably changed hands 3 or 4 times since then. It’s something about my mother, she doesn’t see that the world moves on without her. I think its her borderline issues, where she can’t see that there is a whole way of being, people and life that isn’t all about her.

Does anyone that reads this and uses Wordpress know if there’s a way of mass deleting comments. I have 342533 comments. Twenty of those are probably non-spam. There’s just no way I can go through each page 10 at a time and do it.

I haven’t really been journalling because life and my fucked-up-ness really got hold of me. I just shut down, pulled away from everyone and gave up for quite some time. I’ve had a couple of attempts to pull myself out of that, and this is the latest one. I hope it works, because I do need to find a life that is more than staring at the walls.

One of the things I stopped doing was going to school. I didn’t withdraw I just stopped. I’m trying to fix the problems that caused now, but again its looking like this mental health shit will terribly effect my chances at getting into Masters. My mother rang last night, it was awkward because she’s decided that she should ask about school all the time, I think that’s a reaction to me getting my degree and never telling her. Anyway, I had to bullshit my way through it because I don’t want to talk to her about being sick. Hell even if I did want to talk to her about it she gets angry and defensive whenever it comes up, so I lie about going to school and doing the work.

I’m speaking with the disability service people to see if they can help me sort all this. I am hoping I can get retro-active withdraws rather than fails that will help in the long term and they are helping me work out what it is I need to do to finish my post-grad diploma.

Let’s see, what else. I have almost finished a round of groups. Sean wanted us to go because he could see how isolated we were becoming. I’m not sure how much it helped to not isolate, but for 90 minutes a week I was around other people. Now the last time I went to these groups they were an utter disaster. I was attacked, belittled and blamed. It was horrendous so I had concerns going in. This group has been better, yeah there’s a couple of people that get on my nerves, but not in a traumatic way. I’ve also done some rather intensive work in the group that we are quite proud of.

I also did a stupid thing a few months ago and gave Brian another chance with me. I thought he was serious about being willing to commit. I took it slowly, wanting to be sure, then the day after he tells me all he wants is to be mine he practically disappears. I still saw him come online, the time I messaged him he said he was busy, and then all the other times he never even said hello. That guy has so many commitment issues its just not funny. I’m kicking myself for thinking it would be different this time. I feel like he played me, although I can see this is totally about his own issues and not about me, but damn it pissed me off.

I’ve still been writing, most of it I don’t share, but I’ve been brave again and created a public livejournal writtenhistory to post some of the fanfic I thought was good enough to share, and also discussions about fandoms I am really into. I’ve found I’m a bit of a feedback whore. I wrote a fic for a live journal community and got so much good feedback and was named the fic of the week. It was very encouraging and made me want to write more. It’s still scary to share, I still pretty certain I am crap at what I do but it is helping me be more open and brave.

I’ve decided to try to give up smoking again, I simply can’t afford it anymore. I love smoking, I want to smoke. But I can’t find the money, and well my cough is back and the asthma is playing up. So its time to give that up. I managed for about 9 months last time so hopefully it will work this time.

Ok, this started as basically me in the shower the next morning, thinking about how if buried for 2000 years Jack’s clothes held up well. I was planning on writing something lighter, a bit like the Doctor Who thing, but it got a little deep and probably pompous. Full of spoilers.
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
Negatives:

1. The guy playing Grey couldn’t act for shit. And for such a pivotal role that really sucked. He was playing a guy pushed over the edge by abandonment, rage and torture and I just felt nothing, it was too wooden, too much like someone reading through lines.

2. Jack gets buried alive for 2000 years, really liked the concept and I will get to that in my positive list, but first a couple of comments. First, the bitchy one. 2000 years in a hole in the ground and his clothes were all in one piece, I don’t think so (and no this isn’t about me wishing to see more of naked!Jack). Now I know, maybe they gave him clothes when they unearthed him and just never showed it on screen, and in the grand scheme of things it doesn’t really matter but still. The second one is a little less bitchy. You get buried in a hole by your brother, who you thought you’d lost forever, who when you are finally reunited with blames you for every horrendous thing he lived through, died and forced back to life countless times over the centuries and when they finally pull you free, you are not only coherent but able to make sensible complicated decisions on what needs to occur, again I say, with my bigger emphasis, I don’t think so. Ok, story, plot, 40 minutes, I get it, I would have just liked to seen a little more struggle, a little more effect on Jack of the experience.

Meh, could have been better:

Weevils. For those that don’t know Weevils are like the resident aliens/demons, and of course if you don’t know that then you probably aren’t reading me rabbitting on about a Torchwood episode. They often play a small part in the episodes and I’m ok with that, but in this one they just ended up annoying me, it was like, yeah weevils moving right along. And whilst I’m at it, it’s sort of been established that weevils are pack animals with little ability to communicate or be communicated with, so how does Grey or John, or whoever it was convince four weevils to target the main officers at the police station. It was just a little too easy and it made me go.. meh.

Positives:

1. I love Torchwood, but for the record I am a much bigger Doctor Who fan. This is to take nothing away from Torchwood, but simply if I had to choose only one to watch it would be Doctor Who. So as a complete and utter self-proclaimed fangirl, when I see consistency and fandom crossover between the shows I do get a little gushy. The first things are pretty much just basic nods to them being in the same verse. The alien Owen fought in the hospital was a Hoix, this is the same one that Rose and the Doctor fought with the whole running, red bucket, blue bucket, gag in Love and Monsters. The cynic amongst us could just say it saves on having to create a new costume, but I say, costume? Those aliens are real don’t you know.

Space Pig! So yes, it’s been confirmed it was Tosh that was in London when the Slitheen tried to destroy the world. I know there has been some debate about this, especially since that woman appeared to be a doctor and Tosh isn’t one. So now we find out why. She was covering for Owen, too hung over to go. Probably a good thing because I think Owen might have just punched the Doctor. But I just loved that they mentioned this.

For me, the biggest connection to Doctor Who was the whole, I forgive you stuff. My reading of Doctor Who’s Last of the Time Lords, was both Jack and Martha struggled with the readiness of the Doctor to try to save the Master. This was the man that not only decimated the population, was about to wage a war that would make the whole universe burn, but also on a more personal, and therefore more devastating level had inflicted so much cruelty and pain on them and on Martha’s family. So when at the end of all that, the Doctor cradles him first to offer forgiveness, and then later in the pain and grief of watching him die, I feel both Jack and Martha, perhaps for different reasons, felt betrayed and confused by the man they had so much trust and respect for.

Ok, so I know this is about Torchwood not Doctor Who, so I’ll get to my point. When Jack is pulled from his status pod, the first thing he says to Grey is “I forgive you”. The echo is clear there. Then there is the confrontation. Jack gives forgiveness to his brother for the crimes he committed in his hatred and insanity, and seeks forgiveness in return for not being able to keep his brother safe. His brother refuses, he will not forgive Jack. I believe this is his choice, not just that he’s so fucking screwed he can’t forgive. To me, it is the same as the Master refusing to save himself, refusing to regenerate because he would have to be with the Doctor. That was the Master twisting the knife, just as Grey twisted it in his refusal. In the end Jack can not kill his brother, even if on some level he knows it’s the best, and probably safest option, and again this echoes a lot of what the Doctor did when confronted with the Master, he constantly refused the option of killing the Master, even when at the end it was the Master that was choosing death.

I believe as a slasher of Jack and the Doctor, and as someone that thinks far too much about a couple of television programmes that Jack finally understood more about what the Doctor was feeling, what decisions he had to make, and how when it all goes wrong just how devastating that is to one’s soul.

2. Captian John Hart. Ok for me, he’s Spike, or at least Spike before Joss destroyed Spike turning him into little more than a joke. I loved him in Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, but loved him more in this. There were hints in the first episode that he wasn’t just a one dimensional bad guy. And since I knew he was returning at some point, I figured that there would be more character development. They didn’t, in my opinion, take the easy route and turn him into a nice guy. He’s still snarky, you still aren’t sure you can trust him, he’s still got that evil twinkle, bad boy thing going on. But you do end up seeing more, knowing more about him.

Jack’s rejection of John is poignant here. And excuse me if I flick back to Doctor Who here for a bit. When we meet Jack, he makes it clear he’s out to con the Time Agency, not just for money, but rather because it’s the only way he can think of to enact some revenge for what they did to him. He carried, and perhaps still carries a lot of anger and resentment towards to Agency. It was while working for the Time Agency that he met John, it is the backdrop to their relationship. His rejection of John is due to a lot of things (high on the list is probably that John keeps trying to murder him), but I believe the connection John has to the Time Agency and Jack’s past is one of those reasons.

Jack rejects him again, he chooses his new life, the new people in his life over John. But it’s more than just Jack wanting to move on, its also that in doing so Jack wipes everything he had with John away. The people he chooses over John don’t have any clue of the parts of Jack’s past that connect him to John. It is therefore more than I do not want to be with you anymore, it is, I do not want there to be any trace of it left in my life. He destroys not just the relationship but the whole history/memory of it, and that must be devastating to John.

When John tells Jack he loves him I believe it. It could be a throw away line, a joke, but for me it is a lot about John’s emotions at this time. In the end he is also faced with the choice of forgiveness, of whether to hold onto his anger and resentment and live in that place or be something more. It also explains why after it all he swapped allegiances. Ok, part of that might have to do with originally he had a high explosive grafted to his wrist, but still. Love isn’t enough, love doesn’t turn him into a saint or even someone terribly honest or morale, but it does influence his choice, and perhaps allow him to make those choices.

A few of my friends (waves to Gina and Eric) have said that it would be really call if in Season Three John joined the team but I am really hoping they don’t do that. John isn’t a team player, and for him to be a member of the team he would have to become someone they could trust, there would have to be a lot of changes to John’s nature, and also, after blowing up half the city and being a part of Jack’s kidnap, well there’s just too much baggage there. I don’t want John cleaned up and sanitised because he ended up doing the right thing. I want John to remain a bit of a bastard, someone you are never sure about, someone whose motives you question. This can’t happen and make him someone that could fight into Torchwood. The Torchwood team survive because they can rely on each other, because they know, even when personal issues occur and things go wrong, that they have each others back. So yes, a recurring role would be cool, but for him to join would end up robbing the aspects that make John so damn perfect.

3. Rhys. When the show started they set up Gwen as the human face of Torchwood. And in some ways she still is, just like in some ways she’s annoying, self-absorbed and has too high an opinion of herself. And no, I don’t actually hate Gwen, all the characters of Torchwood have aspects about them that I don’t particular like, but that’s part of human nature really. But over the arch of this series Rhys has become, to me, the human heart of the story.

Perhaps this is because he doesn’t actually work at Torchwood. I do not believe that someone can do that sort of work, see the things they see, have to do the things they do without hardening themselves to it in some way. Because Rhys knows about Torchwood and aliens and the world almost ending on a weekly basis but still is able to stay outside it he can see things from a more human (for the lack of a better word) viewpoint. He hasn’t become so entrenched in it.

4. Ok, the big thing about it. The Death of Tosh and Owen. To me, this is one event. That doesn’t diminish either character or their death, but the way it played out, their deaths were a joint affair. This was their date, their happy ever after. Alright that might sound strange but let me see if I can explain. Tosh it seems has always been in love with Owen from the moment he joined Torchwood four years ago. There were some slight hints in that, but it was overshadowed, mostly with Owen and Gwen’s story line. For Owen he did not become aware of that until after he died (the first time). There could be some hint of the possibility of Owen’s feelings towards Tosh becoming more than friendship in Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, but life got away from them, and nothing ever happened. They never had the time, the space to connect until they were both dying, separate but together. It is in that moment that they do connect amongst all the chaos and tragedy they are able to have their quiet moment of love.But the good thing about this for all the heart-wrenching emotion they didn’t take the easy approach. It would have ruined everything if there had been some undying proclamation of love. What made it so special was that they found peace in each other, that their relationship was there, shining through.

Owen, quite understandably totally freaked out when he found out he would be dying again, for good this time. Yes, he hated living as a dead person, but faced with the destruction of his body he didn’t want to let go. He was panicked and scared and felt very alone. Owen is someone that uses his anger to deal with his emotions, he doesn’t pull in on himself, he rages. He did this many times, and at this time he did it again. It was Tosh, and I believe only Tosh that could have calmed him. But it wasn’t her telling him to be calm that did it, when she tried that it just made him rage more. It was those soft spoken words, that even now make me cry to think about it. Supposedly the whole scene of her talking to Owen while he raged was shot in one take, and perhaps that is why the emotion felt so real and raw. When he’s screaming at her, demanding to know why he should be calm, it isn’t until he hears how much it is destroying her to listen that stops him. He stops for her, even as his death approaches it is his caring, his love for Tosh that gets through all the rage.

He doesn’t know that Tosh is dying as well. She never told him. At first I think because she thought he would live, that he had so much to do, and did not want her own impending death to disrupt that. This is a thing about Tosh, she often puts her own needs last. It is one of the things I used to want to slap her about. But in doing so in this episode it stayed true to her character and made the scene even more haunting. She is lying there bleeding to death, knowing her life is over and all her focus is on saving the world or at least Cardiff and then comforting and supporting Owen, so he doesn’t get to die alone. And I believe, Owen wanted to comfort her, wanted her to not have to live with the memory of his last moments being filled with rage and regret. In the end he tells her that it is ok, that in the end he is ready, and she helped him to face his death.

I believe Owen had to die by the end of the season. There were always some issues with me about dead!Owen. Without air how can he talk? And if the blood isn’t being pumped around his body shouldn’t it pool in places and bruise? I’m not a doctor or anything, but there were just niggly things with me. But aside from my nitpicking, Owen being an active member of Torchwood will mean he would get hurt. This is a dangerous job, bones get broken, people get sliced up and shot. Owen can not heal, and eventually that would catch up on him. Plus I don’t think its fair, I don’t think Jack should have brought him back, not that he knew this was going to happen, but still it created a life of unliving for Owen. The guy couldn’t sleep, eat, drink, have sex, and it seemed he couldn’t even feel things. Jack might hate he can’t die, but he still gets to experiencing living, Owen becomes the outsider to life, only being able to watch others. The funny thing is in the first season I really disliked Owen. He irritated me. I couldn’t feel connected to him at all. Somehow that changed in this season. More of Owen’s character was shown, he was still a smart arse, still callous at times, but there was something interesting about him, more of his depth. I came to love Owen, just to have him die. Bastards.

Tosh. I had heard Tosh died before I watched this. It made sense to me that if a character died it would be her. There wasn’t much character development on Tosh. What was shown of her was hidden in the background a lot. She was smart, and loyal, and although I liked her, as a character she was lacking any real development. The same could probably be said about Ianto, but I have some really strong theories about Ianto, and anyway, can’t have him die who would Jack shag then, ok, its Jack, he’d find someone.

Tosh’s final death scene was probably the one that got to me the most, it was so simple and intimate. In the end it was a moment between Tosh and Jack. Gwen, there trying to fix things as she would, trying to keep Tosh alive and focused, but Jack, he was just able to hold her, to let her say what she needed, even if that was without words. Jack’s lived hundred’s of years, thousands if you could the two thousand buried under the earth. He’s seen death and understands it. He might not accept it, doesn’t just give into it, but I believe he knows death is part of this life. There is a thing about Torchwood, the work they do, death comes early for these people, it always will. All except Jack, and I think he often feels guilty about that, and that guilt drives him to bad decisions. Using the glove on Owen, and trying to protect Gwen from the reality of their world, are two examples. But I do believe the incident with Owen taught him something, that in the end, you just have to be there for the person, to hold them so they don’t die alone. He gave that to Tosh.

There is a connection for me that between the soft smile she gives to Jack and her message at the end, when she thanks Jack. We found in the previous episode that Tosh was held without trial, a Guantanamo Bay sort of situation and it was Jack that freed her from that. Although she was never free, he basically owned her, was her captor. She willingly gave him five years, which as it turned out was her last five years. But I think he gave her more than that, he gave her challenges and a life, he gave her something to feel confident and proud of. She thanked him in the end, because I believe for her Jack saved her, not just from the prison but from the life she had found her in. And the emotion between them was deafening. There was Gwen in the background, but it was all about that moment. There wasn’t the screaming over the body. I still stand by my belief that on Doctor Who and Torchwood, they do death well. There of course exceptions to that, but when it comes to it being an important character or moment it is played out with dignity and enough realism.

I am hearing all sorts of bad rumours about season three. There is talk that they will sanitise it, make it child friendly. God please no. I heard that Jack won’t be back, and I can’t see it working. This show needs Jack, it’s built around it. I think if Jack leaves it will be like the X-Files when Mulder left, it just won’t work. I will just sit and hope and wait and go all geeky over Doctor Who in the meantime.

Getting spammed like crazy.. bastards

don’t know how to hide this behind a cut, so if your a Who fan and haven’t seen it there are spoilers all over the place

Ok because I am such a fan geek and have been squee-ing like crazy, here’s my doctor who review. Spoilers galore in case you haven’t seen it.

Really not sure what I think of the new theme tune, its still enough Doctor who to not upset me, but its just not as good.

Oh look there he is, brown coat and all, although not wearing my favourite red sneakers.

Ok Donna, first scene and I love her… love the whole mirroring thing with the Doctor.

Now I know I shouldn’t, but god, if only those pills actually worked, I wouldn’t mind giving birth to fat creatures if they didn’t just kill you, one kilo a night.

Health and Safety.. film department, god I’m chuckling, but then I’m weird that way.

When I heard Donna was coming back, I was worried because she was a bit thick in Runaway Bride, loved her spirit but not her stupidity, it seems they have shown her grow, into someone strong and intelligent, keeping her good qualities, but no longer someone who has no idea of anything but pop-culture and trashy mags.

OK telephone woman hitting on the doctor, and his adorable awkwardness. And I so love his face when he has to go back to ask for the print out. Its that cheeky adorable geekyness about him.

He knows something is going on, and it seems so does Donna. Cat flaps, although nod to old episodes, and the whole “I’ve met Cat people and you’re nothing like them.” Yes I am now back in geeky Doctor who fan mode.

Necklace, does it make fat creatures come forth, is Donna doing it by playing with the capsule? Must be.

Oh look, dinky Doctor gadget, I love it that all his gadgets look so hand made and a little on the held together by string and spit.

Adipose are so damn cute, I want one. They are just adorable and since unlike the hints they aren’t evil take over the world fat creatures, I really do want one.

Oh intense Doctor with gadget, oops gadget not working, so yes, smack it about, not like shiny science fiction, this stuff if it isn’t working you smack it until it does.. just like us regular folk.

Ok for the record so I have said it, the Doctor is just so damn cute.

Ok, another dysfunctional family, not sure I like that, but then I know how Donna must be like, her mother going off, rubbishing her life and that whole tuning out thing.

OH Gramps, it’s the guy from Voyage of the Damned, god I love him. I love the relationship between him and Donna, its perfect, you can see the love between them. I love that he knows, but doesn’t know, that he’s aware things are going on, but that Donna won’t tell him. I also hope that they stay true to this, that she isn’t after him because she’s in love, but because he showed her there is more to life. I love that her Grandfather encourages her to keep looking, keep searching. I so hope he comes back into the show.

Aww, sad Doctor, realising he’s alone in the TARDIS, that there is no one to talk to, and just stands there, in silence, in the emptiness of it all. The Doctor shouldn’t be alone, it’s a recurring theme but yes its so true.

God they must hate that he keeps blowing the lock on that same door *chuckle*

9 hours hiding in a closet.. is that subtext there Doctor, trying to tell us you miss Jack.. ok, maybe that’s just my wishful thinking.

I figured there would be someone else in there, just didn’t think it would be the annoying journalist woman. No idea why I didn’t like her, but I really didn’t.

This is probably the best scene in the whole episode, when they see each other through the windows, on each side of the building. The whole conversation in lip reading and miming. The Doctor says “hell” but then since you don’t hear it I suppose it doesn’t count as swearing. Although Martha said Doctor Who’s first “bloody” last season. They are adorable together, the chemistry is so obvious. And the ending with the “we interrupting you” god I almost snorted my coffee. This is what I want from the Doctor and his companion, what was missing from Martha, the fun, they glee, the snark. None of that unrequited love that annoyed me with Martha.

And the comment, oh the same suit, don’t you ever change, *snort*

I am so in love with Donna, she’s not brilliant or smart, but she doesn’t let it stop her, her ideas might not work, the spanner to break the window for instance, but she keeps thinking, keeps trying.

Oh good catch, he’s such a hero, or just incredibly lucky.

Question if all the windows are deadlock sealed, how did he get it open.

Snarky comment about journalist, can you tell Dr Who gets a lot of tabloid attention.

Doctor might still be all emo, and thank god because I like emo doctor, but I like he’s showing that whole lack of social norms. And we are back to the dynamic of Donna and Doctor, I suppose it helps they know each other from the Runaway Bride, there is no need to do the whole introduction thing, they can just go straight into being a team. And there is the whole one chance Doctor, I like the darkness in him as much as the emo and the cheekyness. And he went straight from threatening, to cheekyness even with a grin.

Running out of locations to shoot I see, corridor the same as the Rachnoss’ lair. Ok, shouldn’t be that bitchy.

Shadow Proclamation, it exists, another nod back to continuity and all that. As a fan I love that stuff, love that its there without it being a big deal, new people don’t get lost but nerdy geeks like me really get a buzz.

Aww poor Doctor, his guilt over Martha, his feelings that he destroyed her life, and she’s better off without him. And Donna, and how hard it really is to live a better life when you’re alone, when you don’t have someone to help you change. She had all these good intentions but found stepping out of the rut was so hard. I’m glad it was like that, that it showed just how much the Doctor is instrumental to change, but that changing is actually hard to achieve, it takes more than wanting. Even though it shows Donna as having changed, and grown, it wasn’t easy, it wasn’t as simple as she thought it would be.

Now I shouldn’t laugh, they are little babies, but the squishing noise as the taxi ran over the Adipose just made me giggle, squished fat babies. Now I can see how everyone brought into them being evil, until you see the little one skipping, then its back to aww, so cute.

Frantic Doctor trying to save a million people, and then he can’t do it, he gets even more frantic, the whole guilt of deaths on his shoulders. The panic, the desperation and then Donna just holding the solution in front of him, and the slow smile turning into a grin. I love it, love that the Doctor might have all the answers but he also often needs help.

Love the acknowledgment that the Doctor went cold and unfeeling killing the Rachnoss children, but then, they were different, the Rachnoss would have eaten the world, these are just cute fat babies going home. “I’m waving at fat” *snicker*

And the Doctor tries to save the evil Nanny woman. He seems to have gotten a little bit of his mercy back, or maybe its just after so many deaths he doesn’t want more to happen. The Doctor to me, always had so much compassion for others, he may not give second chances, and there is a darkness in him, but he is also a man that wants to save the worlds and all their people if he can.

Donna still not aware that the Doctor isn’t sure about taking her. He tries to talk her out of it, to warn her about the risks. He doesn’t want to hurt her. He doesn’t want to be fawned over or even idolised. He just wants a mate, a friend. And ok, he looks rather bewildered by Donna at times. And this is why it works, Donna isn’t a kid. Ok RTD made a slight mistake saying he liked it that Donna was older than the Doctor, after all the Doctor is over 900 years (a lot over in my opinion). With Rose, she was still a teenager, still not sure of herself, and to me there was love their between them in the end, but it started almost fatherly, and with Martha they got lost in the unrequited love. For a number of reason the relationship often seemed too one sided. Now I know its the Doctor, he’s brilliant, smart, brave, better, but what I missed from season one was how much Rose used to agrue with him, used to challenge him. I get the feelign that will be there with Donna, I see her driving him crazy at times, but she’s bolshy, she doesn’t sit back and be the gushing one. Even in this episode its her that demands to know what happened, that challenges the evil!Nanny. This companion is no wilting flower or lovesick woman. Have I said how much I love Donna

I heard Rose was coming back, but no one it seems knew she’s make an appearance in the first episode. But there’s something wrong. I can feel it. She looks so old and sad, almost damaged. There is something behind it I can feel, there is going to be some terrible heartbreak in the Rose returning to the Doctor arch and it scares me a little. Alright scares might be a bit strong. I’ve heard rumours someone dies in this season, and Rose almost looks sick. She isn’t meant to jump through dimensions, so maybe its killing her. Whatever it is, the look of Rose was just devastating, she looked old and sad, and the Doomsday music in the background. I just know they are setting me up to be devastated.

Donna’s grandfather is happy for her. The first family member of the three companions to say, go on girl, get out there, have a wonderful time, live, explore, be happy.

Next episode. Eeeee. Also the volcano day comment, see, the doctor does really love Jack *chuckle* ok again wishful thinking.