Had a minor operation recently, and thought I’d provide a list of some of the enthralling activities I got up to while staying in hospital then recovering elsewhere. Which mostly consisted of watching films. But a few other things too.
And a shout out to the NHS for being legends as always.
Got Mildly Irritated By Other Patient
I was only recovering in a room for a short number of hours, as the operation was just a day surgery kind of shindig. You know, just reading the latest copy of Empire, having a bit of food, removing the canular then heading back homewards. But never underestimate the ability for humanity to be ungrateful towards others. Like one patient shouting at the nurses and demanding to be seen first. Followed by the nurses trying to calmly placate them and the patient being seen when they were supposed being seen in order (i.e. not before all the other patients as they had insisted). But at least when they got out from the operation, they didn’t irritate other patients by watching some reality TV on loud blast without headphones and refused the reasonably healthy food offered because, well, they had the most holy of all holy foods at their disposal. CRISPS. WOW. Well, yeah, they did both of those things.
And there was a nice dude smoking a ciggy just a few metres away from the open windows. Wonderful. I never get this thing with smoking death sticks in close vicinity to folks who are in vulnerable positions from health-related procedures. Back when I was seriously ill 15 years ago, there was a whole area designated to smokers which was just near the children’s hospital. Bizarre. Anyway, I’d listened to Editors’ ‘Smokers Outside the Hospital Doors’ multiple times before these incidents, so I could appreciate the irony somewhat. To echo the sentiments of the Michael Jordan meme, stop it. Get some help.
Rewatched Dune Part 2
Since my mum had Villeneuve’s latest sci-fi spectacle, it was definitely worth giving it a second viewing. I think Spielberg went slightly overboard with his praises, but the film is certainly a masterful piece of wok, and it does a great job of adapting Frank Herbert’s book with its justified two parts. Bravo.
Watched The New Ghostbusters
I remember enjoying the original, although I hadn’t seen Afterlife, so Frozen Empire was my first return to the franchise. It was watchable, I guess, but I don’t have any particularly vivid memories or anecdotes from watching it, so I guess it wasn’t very good. Yep, that’s the high-standard laconic review you’re gonna get. Like the inimitable Johnny Tightlips, I ain’t sayin’ nothin’. Or at least, not much anyway. You’re welcome.
Finished Re-watching The Last of Us
The rest of the family hadn’t seen this gem when it was originally released, so I was more than happy to give it a second viewing. Everything stood up really well, and Episode 3 remains my absolute favourite. It’s great to see Nick Offerman play around with the Ron Swanson archetype only to completely subvert it. The ‘You were my purpose’ line hit the feels just as much as it did the first time.
Also, if you want to see Offerman go off track from the Swanson archetype, watch the ‘Snake Juice’ clip from Parks and Rec on YouTube. It’s just about my favourite P+R episode, with ‘the calzones betrayed me’ one coming a close second. But yeah, it’s vintage stuff.
Punched Some Bread
Punched some bread as in I made dough. For hot cross buns. Not as in picking up a fresh loaf from Sainsbury’s and opening a fresh can of whoop ass on it just because I was in a bad mood. I essentially used a bread maker and then took things from there. I can’t deny that it isn’t fun just wailing on inanimate food stuff though. I kind of wish my mum still crushed biscuits for chocolate biscuit cakes the old way (wrapping up a load in a sturdy bag and then proceeding to smash them over the kitchen table multiple times until they were all suitably broken), but alas, no. Anyway, using violent methods to make tasty food worked pretty well here.
Watched one (and a quarter?) WWII-related films
My dad wasn’t feeling too well one night, so we decided to watch a film on Netflix called Anthropoid. I like watching Cillian Murphy films, and he likes watching films and documentaries where the allied forces kick Nazis ass, so there was something there for both of us. It was a bit of a slow start, but the film ultimately wasn’t too bad. The next day we watched another one that had a WWII context (called The Finale, or sumthin? Can’t remember tbh, and can’t be bothered to double check). Anyway, we gave up on it after about half an hour because it wasn’t grabbing everyone’s attention. Nevermind, as Leonard Cohen says.