Fantasy, reality, and more links

Yesterday Special K really wanted to go the park outside the library and play. She called it "doing a show". She jumped from one metal lilypad to another. Metal sculptures from Wind In The Willows stand outside the library including a pond. I watched for a while, then Little T started to get bored and fuss. So I told Special K we had to go unless she could entertain him. So she started to talk to him and he watched her for another 10 minutes.

Meanwhile a lady sat near us talking into thin air. Now sometimes when people do this, they're actually talking to a real invisible person on a cell phone. She had long black hair, so at first I wasn't sure. Then I saw she wasn't wearing a headpiece. I entertained the idea she was talking to a real invisible person who was actually there. Then I noticed that there were no gaps in her conversation for another person to talk. She kept up a running monologue for a good 20 minutes. I didn't exactly eavesdrop, but she was very emphatic about the UN and some sort of plan she was explaining. She held up a spiral bound notebook literally full of scribbles, not writing, but curling scribbles like writing is shown in comics. She was reasonably dressed in jeans and a shirt. She didn't smell and she spoke very earnestly. She must feel terribly important. I feel terribly important to my immediate family, but not to the UN. I wonder whether she feels her imaginary life is better.

Interestingly Special K utterly ignored her. Usually she comments on unusual people and they talk to me or her about her comments. Perhaps she sensed this woman's utter self-absorption.

I just saw "The Purple Rose of Cairo" last night in which the real and imaginary are juxtaposed. And the night before I saw "Bridget Jones: Beyond the Edge of Reason". The director describes Bridget Jones as "a fantasist". She's also a pessimist. I'm definitely an optimist, and a realist. I always hope people will behave their best and things will turn out fine in the end, but I do tend to see things as they are, not as I want them to be. However I enjoyed Bridget Jones and found Purple Rose quite depressing. The characters in the former change for the better while those in the latter never do. And I do believe people can and do change for the better. Not always, but it's possible. I have in some ways.

And here are two somewhat related links:

From Tritone's LJ, Spot the Fake smile - I got 19 out of 20 right, because I knew what to look for. So that at least provides a credential for my statement that I'm a realist.

From a link from Zed's blog, Drug Dealers vs. Coders. - This made me smile. And drugs and code can create a fantasy world for the user.