You walk down the the hallway to your daughter’s room, holding a package you’ve prepared especially for her. Today is her twentieth birthday, and you will reminisce about the past and remember when you first met your wife, who was then around the age that your daughter is now.

Around this time, almost twenty-one years ago, you and your wife were distraught because of your inability to have children the old fashioned way. Thus, you went to a specialist to debate the various options available to you, a rich couple with too much money and time on your hands. Between the choice of getting a surrogate, adopting, and the recently perfected option of reproductive cloning, you and your wife choose cloning. Because your father had stipulated the conception of a granddaughter before he will release his fortunes to you, the two of you choose to have your wife cloned.

Your wife is ugly now, old and wrinkled, but your daughter has grown up, the picture of health and flushing youth.

Happy Reproductive Cloning Day!

Inspired by my own horrified thoughts on the topic in my Philosophical Ethics class and Bob Power’s Girls Are Pretty blog.

Matt Damon at the end of a day's shooting.

My school’s been featured in quite a few movie filmings lately, the most recent two being Wall Street 2 (featuring Shia LaBeouf and Michael Douglas) last month and The Adjustment Bureau (Matt Damon) just today. For both, the production agencies offered the opportunity for students to apply as Extras, and mostly because I needed money, I tried my luck at the latter one. Amazingly, I got a reply 2 hours after I sent in my picture.

The extras gathered to cheer on the campaigning senator who Damon plays.

So this morning I haul my ass up after 4 hours of sleep at 5am to meet the call time of 5:45 dressed in more colorful winter finery than I would have chosen for myself naturally. 10 hours later after all parts of me have lost feeling and gone numb, we wrap.

Moral of the day? Dress warmly and understand that Extra-ing is the tedious task of standing around. There’s no glamor to it, even if you are essentially paid as human fodder.

Lately I’ve…

1. Been exercising an counting calories, oh my! Nothing except the thought of going to China where I’m probably a size L motivates me to get off my butt and lose a few pounds (or at least a few centimeters in girth). This endeavor (a week or so in) has included Tony Horton, a banana for breakfast, and sparkpeople.
2. Actually this isn’t so recent, but since I mentioned it on the last few “lately”s, my 35mm f/1.8 Nikkor came. I’m not sure if I like it as much as I expected to.
3. Witnessed an interesting incident with a woman at the grocery store when a woman left her cart in the middle of the asile with her kid in it. Because it was blocking everyone’s way and causing a traffic jam, a nice lady pushed the card forward a few inches (closer, I dare say, to the mother). The mother began yelling and scolding the woman and as others stood up to defend the poor lady, the mother began to snap at them, too. I do believe their mistake was to even talk back to her; giving her a dismissive look and then walking away would probably have shut her up faster.
4. Made an Excel spreadsheet of what exactly (minus clothes) I will be bringing/needing in college.
5. Sent out my essay of affirmation to Tierney Hall.
6. Shuffled through 3 computers to find old family photos to print and bring back to China on request of my paternal grandmother. There were about 60+ that I printed. Then today when my mom handed me the stack of pictures to bring back, I noticed that it was ridiculously thin. Alas, she’d pilfered off her favorites and all those she didn’t think she looked good in. Which totaled to be a lot.
7. Watched Watchmen; am in the process of digesting the comic. I wish American comics had prettier pictures, because after watching Malin Akerman in her hot! costume (I want her hair by the way), and Dr. Manhatten’s finely chisled abs and uh, blueness, the distinctly masculine pictures just don’t cut it as well. Eh, I’m probably writing blasphemy though. I’m sure the comic will reveal a lot more details the film only got to glaze over.

Mother has also just informed me that she expects my brother and I to bring a small carry-on roller luggage case and a backpack to China between the two of us. She is obviously delusional. I brought that my for a 3 day trip to New York by myself. Three days!