Unconsidered Trifles

[jadesfire]

Wow, I've been quiet lately. Well, quite for me, anyway. This is partly because of brain stuff, and partly because apparently I acquired a life when I wasn't looking. It sure gets in the way of posting...

The brain stuff is complicated and messy, and is ironically because I'm actually doing much better right now than I have been. That means I start to prod at the stuff that sends me downhill in the first place, which makes me moody and over-sensitive, which in turn is not a good state of mind to bring to the internet at large. I'm sure the rest of you find that too, and that's why I intend to post nothing but trivialities for the next few weeks. But then if you're here, you're probably already used to that already ;)

~ Despite what I said a few weeks ago, I now have to use a spreadsheet to keep track of all the fannish and crochet things I'm committed/committing to over the coming months. But it has pretty colours on, and who keeps their new year resolutions anyway? *looks shifty*

~ We're starting to house hunt again, this time for real. This is bringing home the reality of trying to buy in one of the most expensive cities in the UK that's not London. This could take a while...

~ I went juggling at lunchtime! Er. That's not a metaphor. We really honestly had a juggling lesson with these guys as part of the library service's Well Being Week. It was lots of fun, but I'm knackered!

~ It's my mum's 60th birthday today *throws streamers* She's having a big posh lunch on Saturday that should be all kinds of fun.

~ If I bribe you with a mini-linkspam, will some of you guys do me a favour? There's a Google Form at the link below - please could you click the link and take the survey? I'm just trying to see how it works at the moment, rather than gather meaningful information.

Bribery in the form of mini-linkspam (and tiny rant):


Wonderful, wonderful poster on 'how to use a semicolon'. Just brilliant

Cooking with Monkey. No, not edible primates, I promise. Just some fun, simple and interesting recipes.

The Master Diagram of Geek Culture

Why are some people always late? I have a pathological fear of being late, and am usually at least 10 minutes early, no matter where I'm going. This is partly learned from childhood, and partly because someone once told me that apart from unavoidable transport issues, being late was saying that what you are doing with your time is more important than what the other person is doing with their time. I don't entirely subscribe to that - sometimes, stuff just happens - but people who regularly keep me waiting for 10-30 minutes because they 'were doing something interesting' or 'got talking to someone', I find much more annoying. Actually, that's not true. I find it annoying to get notice of lateness when the person is already ovedue. If you've been waiting 10 minutes, to get a text saying "sorry, running 15 minutes late" isn't really that much use. At least if you get early notice you can set out later or go off and do something else in the meantime. Yes, it's the control freak in me, but if I know what's going on, I can deal with it. Just being left standing in the cold for 15 minutes because the other person lost track of time? Less fun. [/rant]

*ahem*


If there's anyone still there, please could you nip over and fill out my pointless form HERE? There's only a few silly questions on it - I'm trying out the different options!

Thanks, folks :) How is everybody? Keeping heads above water?

Comments

[thalia]

FYI, my answer to the last question has two paragraphs with a blank line between.

Semicolons rock; I use them way too often.

My husband is always late because he consistently underestimates how long it will take him to do things. If he has 10 minutes, he'll start something that ends up taking 20. Knowing this doesn't make it any less annoying, but I don't think he'll ever break the habit, so I pretty much try to manage around it as much as possible.

[jadesfire2808.livejournal.com]

*twirls* That's how it came out on the spreadsheet - you should have a sharing link now. I'm super (and sadly) excited about it, because it's ridiculously easy to do (Google docs->Create New->Form) and produces such lovely results. Woo hoo!

*giggle*

*nods* If you know that, then you can work around it. That kind of thing, I totally get - my father in law is the same - it's the person turning up 45 minutes late saying "I bumped into so-and-so on the way and got talking, sorry" that gets to me (yes, that's personal experience. yes, we're still friends somehow...)

[white_hart]

How come you get a Well Being Week? We don't have exciting stuff like that down here...

[jadesfire2808.livejournal.com]

It's an OULS thing - our Staff Development team are very keen. They got a charter mark thingy a while back, and I think they're trying to keep it up!

Tomorrow it's calligraphy :) I am currently not thinking whether I could crochet/sew a set of juggling bean bags. Our flat is in no way big enough and the TV makes a pretty big target...

[white_hart]

I don't think we have Staff Development :-(

I am hopeless at anything requiring hand-eye coordination, but calligraphy sounds fun!

[smtfhw.livejournal.com]

You might find this useful:

http://teuxdeux.com/

I've started using it to keep track...

[jadesfire2808.livejournal.com]

*grin* I love that kind of thing, and have a tendency to use them to replicate the paper list that I keep in my notebook. Which means I spend time typing it up which is fun, rather than doing the stuff on the list, which is not ;)

Still, it's the best one I've seen - I can't get the hang of 'Remember the Milk'. This one's much shinier *goes to play* Thanks :)

[smtfhw.livejournal.com]

I especially like the fact that if something doesn't get removed from the current day's list because it's complete, it automatically appears in the next day's list.

[miss-zedem.livejournal.com]

I gave you a web link, using the a href format, just to see what happened (and also because if you follow the link, it is something very cool. Depending on your interpretation of 'cool'... ;D).

*hangs head* I'm often late for things, although it's usually down to organisational fail than bumping into someone. In fairness, I'm frequently stupidly early for the same reason - I know I'm always late, so I over compensate. It also kind of depends on what we're doing, and how many of us there are going to be - if I bumped into someone on the way to meet one person for coffee, I would just say hi and then keep walking, because I don't want to leave the one person sitting on their own. If it's just a casual gathering of friends though, where there'll be lots of people, I probably would stop and have a quick chat, and not feel bad about it.

I'll get back to you on the head above water thing :S

[jadesfire2808.livejournal.com]

Heh, it's a very cool thing, and you get a small prize for being the first person to find something the form can't do - it came through as text not a link. Still, it's doing pretty well for free software!

*pins gold star on you*

See, the organisational fail I understand, also things that are casual (which I always turn up waaaaaay too early for and alarm my hosts :S), it's the 'I was doing something more interesting' excuse that always gets to me, mostly because it's the one I get most often from my friends *rolls eyes*

*throws lifebelt*

[miss-zedem.livejournal.com]

Hee! *polishes gold star*

The 'doing something more interesting' is a horrible excuse :( I don't believe I've ever said anything like that to someone - even if I have got a better offer, I would still be nice about breaking our arrangements, and would also let the person know in advance. Sometimes it's unavoidable - like you say, traffic, work, whatever - but it's very rare that it's impossible to let the person know early that you're going to be late/not going to make it. That's just rude.

[jadesfire2808.livejournal.com]

*nods* It's never phrased like that, it's always "oh, I got so caught up in what I was doing". The sentence is usually left there, but I always hear "that I forgot about you" on the end. Which possibly says more about my insecurity than anything else, but telling someone that effectively they came second to your laundry or a computer game? Not cool.

I honestly don't mind people being late if I know about it. If I know about it, I don't worry that I've been forgotten/am in the wrong place/have the wrong time (see insecurity issues above). I'll happily wait an hour if I know what's going on, but not knowing is so frustrating!

[dune-drd.livejournal.com]

I am so envious about that juggling group - I'm learning it from the Internet ...

[jadesfire2808.livejournal.com]

It's a one off, and was so much fun! I hadn't even thought about going online for it. Hmmmm...

[dune-drd.livejournal.com]

As long as there are gifs or videos, it just about works. I have yet to find a page which manages to describe it well enough to reproduce it, though ^^

[rustydog.livejournal.com]

I noticed this morning that halfamoon had put up an online form that seemed to be linked directly to their public spreadsheet for prompts, and that they were both powered by Google, and immediately thought about how much time that could save compiling prompts. So very cool!

Happy birthday to your mom! 60 is wonderful! And wow, househunting again. ::crosses fingers::

It's good to see you. ::hugs::

[jadesfire2808.livejournal.com]

Ooh, I'd forgotten halfamoon Must swing by the prompt post...

People did the same kind of thing for Yuletide this year, and the form idea came...I think from the Podbang. It's such a simpler way of getting information out of people!

Thanks *hugs tight* It's nice to be seen!

[donutsweeper.livejournal.com]

Pointless form has been filled out!

I have a problem being always SUPER early for things. Mostly because in NY (for example) if something was supposed to start at 7:30 it meant you had to be in your seat at 7:30 because the curtain would be going up then, so if you didn't get there before 7:15 you'd be late because you wouldn't have time to find and get to your seat. Meanwhile, in MN, it means you should arrive at 7:30 and it'd start soonish after, sometimes 7:40, sometimes 7:45, whenever it gets going. So my arriving at 7ish means I am SUPER early.

Loved the semicolon poster!

[jadesfire2808.livejournal.com]

Thank you! *hunts for flights* ;D

*nods* I hadn't thought of it like that. There's definitely different acceptable times for different things. Five minutes late for the theatre is annoying. Five minutes late for lecture and you'll probably beat the lecturer! It's like it's own timezone thing within the timezones!

[aeron-lanart.livejournal.com]

Hee! I love the semi colon poster. They also have a very fetching poster of Twenty Things Worth Knowing About Beer (http://theoatmeal.com/comics/beer) that pleases my inner Methos...

I am not so bad at all and very much looking forward to my trip to Oxford next month. Which reminds me, now I've been paid I must buy my train tickets!

The lateness thing... I was born 5 days late and I've never been able to catch up since.

[jadesfire2808.livejournal.com]

They have lots of great posters there. The whimsical nature of them really helps get the point across :)

Woot! Can't wait to see you again!

[tiggothy.livejournal.com]

Best wishes with the house hunting.

[jadesfire2808.livejournal.com]

Thanks :) It's going to be...interesting...

[morgynleri]

Form filled out, because distractions are good right now, as the word of the day is "ow". Head above water? Only in the literal sense, because the creek is too far away to flood the house before the Anacostia River (miles away) would probably be doing the same. And then we've other problems, probably involving disasters you should only see in movies.

In good news, have been writing lots lately. Even if I can't get the muses to talk to me without bouncing a story off other people too... *shrugs*

[jadesfire2808.livejournal.com]

Glad you're not flooded, but sorry other things are sucky :S It hasn't been a good start to 2010 for lots of folk I know. Hope the writing continues well and that things improve for you!

[morgynleri]

There's something really nice about being on top of the local high ground, even if it is all squishy at the moment. Creek's been looking rather larger than usual, though, and the neighborhood down next to it is probably dealing with damp and/or flooded basements, and swamps for backyards in places. Though at least the last of the snow from before Christmas is finally melted. It was looking ugly, and the dog was trying to eat it.

Life will get better, it always does, sooner or later. Right now, zen and worrying about other people is doing a good job at keeping me from stressing out too much about my life, and there's always the writing. *goes to poke at muses again*

[crashbarrier.livejournal.com]

I have a similar pathological hate of me being late.. Mostly due to the fact that my internal time estimation sense is screwed.. I spent my childhood being late for practically everything. Didn't help that I struggled to learn to read a watch for a number of years and then spent the rest of the time killing watches.

So I developed a coping mechanism which means I try to be at least 10 minutes early to anything "important"... even earlier if I can help it..

[crashbarrier.livejournal.com]

oh yeah the alphabetising the pets made me laugh out loud.. the first of today:D.. its been a bit of a sucky day.. thanks for linking to it:D

[jadesfire2808.livejournal.com]

It looks like it's going to be a good cartoon series - I liked that one too!

It's funny how much these things influence us, isn't it? My desperate need to be on time comes from a paranoid mother - I swear I can still hear her in my head if I'm running late! Early is rarely a bad thing, I think. You don't miss trains that way :D

[rivers-bend.livejournal.com]

the semicolon poster is awesome :D :D

and yay, forms!

I grew up in a ridiculously punctual house. my dad in particular is "late" if he's not fifteen minutes early for any social engagement, or half an hour early for any time-sensitive thing like a flight or the theater. I am mostly like that, though I try to be a little more reasonable, and not show up while my hostess is still doing the hoovering. My brother, however, is a nightmare, and cannot be on time for anything, and his partner is even worse. When I was visiting, she had a doctors appointment with her baby at 10:30. At 10:20 when I would have been putting him in the car, she was putting a batch of cookies in the oven, planning on jumping in the shower, and asking me if I'd mind getting the baby dressed. I would go insane living like that.

[jadesfire2808.livejournal.com]

*giggle* Your dad sounds like my mum. J has made me get better about not being too early, but I do get antsy about time. I don't think I could live like your brother and partner - my nerves would be shredded within a day!

BTW, you used to live in Brighton, didn't you? It made the News Quiz this week! The Clock Tower has stopped for the first time, with the hands pointing to 10.30:

"A spokesman for Brighton and Hove City Council said: “We are aware of the situation and we are investigating the problem.

“It was only reported to us recently that it had stopped.

“We are not sure of the exact day but we believe it was around 10.30am in the morning or the evening"

Genius ;) From this article (http://www.theargus.co.uk/news/4853875.Brighton_clock_stops_for_first_time_in_twenty_years/)

[fish-echo.livejournal.com]

Yay for your mum's birthday! I hope she had a marvelous one!

Yay for juggling! Yay for fun things!

The mini linkspam looks lovely and enticing but I don't have the brain/time right now, so I'm bookmarking it for the next time I'm sitting at my computer going 'hmm, I ought to be writing, what can I do instead?' :P

Best of luck on the house front! *crosses fingers and toes*

[phoenix64.livejournal.com]

In this sentence, your victory against the bear does not need to be connected to the plague rat, so a period is used.

Bwa!

I think semicolons are mostly underappreciated, though I may overuse them sometimes. I really think we need one of those posters for commas.