Conversing in Crazy

This is a IM transcript from a mate (name protected to protect their innocence) after a random Tweet about the return of the crazy Greek lady.

(mate) how your ninja skills coming on?
(me) sure. i'm working on 'hide-in-plain-sight' strategy right now.
(mate) haha - even though the "#crazygreeklady" is around? :P
(me) _because_ the #crazygreeklady is around.
(mate) hahaha - what makes her crazy?
(me) [context] the #crazygreeklady runs the sweetie shop on campus.
(mate) yeah?..
(me) [crazy comes from] her pricing strategy - (a) it's seriously inflated compared with other stores selling the same stuff (b) she asks you what you paid for other stuff from other shops. Then also (c) she's so strict on what you can say and do in her tiny little shop and (d) she's more than a little rude to her customers. So over all some of the crazy comes from the fact that the store is still open because of (a) through (d) above.
(mate) whahahahaha - she's like the teacher that hates her subject :P
(me) a while back there was a notice on the door that said "closed due to death in family" and for the longest time (since then) she hasn't been back. I thought she had died. But now she's back so it must've been a #crazygreekrelative in Greece.
(me) funny thing is I think she and the guy from Nino's (Mario) are connected in a #crazygreek-italian way, but Mario is a nice bloke and his prices, generally, are reasonable and he's friendly, with his regulars at least.
(me) I may have to blog this story. I'll remove your name to protect you ;)

A lil bit of craziness posted for your crazy enjoyment.

What happened to me?

For the last few weeks I've felt not quite myself: overwhelmed and more of a half-empty outlook compared with my normal half-full perspective. Some of this feeling I attributed to the Fifa 2010 World Cup mayhem and foolishness and I wanted nothing to do with it. "Soccer's not my game" I've said over and over. So what happened today, hours before kick-off, that got me so excited: tweeting posting googling sharing whooping and giddy? I've always called myself a Proud South African and I guess today my 'gees' is based on the fact (it is now a fact) that we're pulling off a feat many people, other Saffas included, didn't think we could pull off. Dang those stadia look good and the Gautrain runs and the airports are impressive and the weather is sunshiny.

We still have issues of slow development, poverty, lack of service delivery, crime, potholes, litter and really bad road driving habits. So today I'm going to again adopt a half-full perspective and state that maybe this showcase of national spirit and unity may be a surge to solving these issues sustainably.

Maybe I get to have this spirit-filled attitude because I decided weeks ago to stay out of public areas and off the roads today. A good decision that was too, considering how Wits has become the Jozi Soccer Central - hosting 2 teams training camps, an international media centre and park-and-ride facilities. All this to the exclusion of the PG students and staff who have not taken (cannot take) vacation time to revel in the celebrations or get away from the busy-ness. Well if I can't work because of these restrictions I may as well blog.

Whoa! it's here - I'm feeling it. We'll start a new count down at 16:00 today: counting down until this all ends and we can return to a life forever changed and hopefully more normal. Welcome WC2010! I'll say it while I feel it - it may only last a moment.

Could this be me?

I always wondered if the safety-net of the postgrad life I remembered at Wits was part of the reason I came back to do my PhD. Now I see the symptoms in this recent Piled Higher & Deeper strip.



Some context: The good doctor has told Cecilia that she's allergic to her thesis and also to reality outside of her research manifest after seeing fellow students graduate. Use the 'previous' button on this link to see the 4 previous strips if you need more context. I ♥ PHD Comics :)

So if this thread is to be believed, when will I show symptoms of allergy to my work? Does avoidance of deadlines count?

Time travel

I love getting mail. More specifically I love getting snail mail: the kind that goes travels through that good (or not so) old network of post-offices and mailing centres and then lands in my mail box. There's something nostalgic about receiving 'post'.

In my post-box today was a postcard written by me, last November, when I was on a post-graduate workshop at Warwick University. It was one of our last tasks of the workshop; to write down some outcomes that we had planned to achieve within 3 months.

What was on the card is, for this audience, not relevant. What is significant is how I responded: an almost surreal feeling - it was my handwriting on the envelope (yes it came in an envelope) and on the card, but bizarrely it didn't feel like I had written those questions. And their relevance now was astounding, even just considering what I thought, back then, would be important now.

This little time-travel experience brought a smile to my face and giggle in my voice as I read the postcard. I recommend this experience as a reminder of what you've achieved by a certain time in the future. Write 3 questions to you-in-the-future, from you-as-you-are-now; seal it in a self-addressed stamped envelope and ask a friend to mail at a predetermined time in the future. A few months is enough. Then just wait for the future to happen, you needn't remember anything, except to check your post-box. I suspect it'll be a worthwhile experience for you too.

Boycotting the commercialism of V-day

Yes yes. Maybe I would be more into this Hallmark holiday if I had a SO. For the most part I think that couples should make a tiny little fuss over their partner every day and not just on one designated by the calendar. The level of commercial depravity that V-day has become, leaves me feeling rather sad. If I was in a couple, how would I know that he would make the effort because he feels obliged by society and all the retail efforts or for more sincere motives. Well the truth is I don't have to double guess.

Most V-day's are for me a bit like Charlie Brown's:


(Source)

V-day rant over.

[Edit] Better late than never, today's Over the Hedge comic did make me go "Oh cute".

And in other news...

In this morning's news I bring you a few observations from the life of Terri.

Recently, invited into a mentor's office to help with spreadsheets, I was calm until I heard the phrase "Are you good on (spreadsheet-application-name)?". This was when I panicked; thinking that I had to help with complex computations, vlookup statements I'd only heard about or even use a pivot table properly (as opposed to the playing around I normally do). I like to think that I'm proficient at spreadsheets - I'm in no way a super user but I use the common functions often. I learned from a friend who uses spreadsheets to write music for percussion instruments that spreadsheets can be used for almost any purpose and I use them a lot. As it transpired my mentor needed to add text annotations to a spreadsheet - very simple stuff. This is what I learnt: super smart people may not be spreadsheet people. One day I hope to be both.

Through frustration and fatigue I realised that Pyott's may not really want you to snack on their Provita crackers. This is especially true of the last 10 crackers in the packet. This is based on the fact that they're almost impossible to get out of the packet without force and breakage of crackers. Pyott's if you're listening: what are the chances of the little pull-tab strip on both ends of the packet?

Paper

Now that's a good topic for a writing assignment[1]. Thanks Leia! A writing assignment with the aim of reminding me about a useful writing state; a state that as I become more familiar with I can access at will and get writing, since 2010 will entail a lot of writing for me. This state is just about writing: long-hand on paper; judgement free. The editing state will come later. So write now it's me scribing for the writer in me and I'm jotting down the words that float to the surface. The surface of the paper, as if this was a tracing paper with invisible letters and moving the pen fluidly across the page, the letter, words and meanings appear. How fabulous this would be when writing papers, articles for scientific journals - the measurable outcome of my research. Imagine if you could find a magic notebook where the words are not on show to everyone but as you access the write state the words appear as if they'd been there all along. That'd give confidence; an untapped source. It's really easy then to be a writer, published, a research scientist.

Consider all the paper used to publish all these seemingly important findings about the world around us and how we are in the world. Paper is really a visual documentation of our history. Even the history of our planet, once "written" in stone in the shape of organisms and geologic events preserved for all time is now transcribed on paper, in journals, in books, in libraries that'll be outlived by the fossils they describe.

Would we write or transcribe anything in this digital information age if not for rock paintings, papyrus leaves, parchment and A4 white bond 80g/m2? Would we know how far we've come and how much we still have to write?

[1] This was the product of a free-writing exercise over a timed period of 11 mins. There have been some edits from the rushed unintelligible long-hand - although these have been generally cosmetic and the integrity and style of the piece has been preserved.