I feel bad for abandoning blogger, which I've used for close to four years, but trying to get anything done while in China is just not working.
So. Mosey on over to my barfings' new home, here. And boo to government censorship! Seriously.
Thursday, March 17, 2011
Wednesday, March 9, 2011
Chinglish, part 1
Chinese: Coffee from Singapore most suitable for Chinese people
No Chinese.
They're actually earbuds of some sort.
Chinese: none
I have no idea what this is supposed to be.
Tuesday, March 8, 2011
Near-Mistakes
...I nearly tried to explain something to my (extremely conservative) mother drawing parallels to BDSM. Ooops. Good thing I caught myself before that happened, or that would have been a really awkward conversation, not to mention unproductive since it would make exactly the opposite of the point I was intending.
ION (in other news): New glasses were acquired tonight. They're blue! And match my eyes! And I like them! And apparently like exclamation points.
In yet other news, there might be China!pictures tonight if I get around to uploading them. If not, then hopefully tomorrow. Then Pinkaboo and the Goddess can stop poking me about it.
ION (in other news): New glasses were acquired tonight. They're blue! And match my eyes! And I like them! And apparently like exclamation points.
In yet other news, there might be China!pictures tonight if I get around to uploading them. If not, then hopefully tomorrow. Then Pinkaboo and the Goddess can stop poking me about it.
Monday, March 7, 2011
Honey, what do you think of Persephone Penelope Hermione [Last Name]?
I name all of my sundry gadgetries. I name lots of other inanimate objects too, but anything electronic seems to pull on my cognomenative instincts more than usual.
Therefore, allow me to present:
Ramses- laptop
Spike- ipod (deceased)
Firefly- ipod
Penelope- U.S. phone
Mathilda- China phone
Eggy- mouse
Nathaniel- earbuds
Kingsley- thumb drive
Eurydice- camera
...Perhaps I should not be allowed to name my kids, if I have any. They'd probably have lovely, meaningful, but hard to pronounce or spell names that they'd all hate. Maybe there should be a review board?
Therefore, allow me to present:
Ramses- laptop
Spike- ipod (deceased)
Firefly- ipod
Penelope- U.S. phone
Mathilda- China phone
Eggy- mouse
Nathaniel- earbuds
Kingsley- thumb drive
Eurydice- camera
...Perhaps I should not be allowed to name my kids, if I have any. They'd probably have lovely, meaningful, but hard to pronounce or spell names that they'd all hate. Maybe there should be a review board?
Friday, March 4, 2011
Miscellany
-I'm so incredibly glad that I use the Dvorak keyboard layout, otherwise my wrists would be killing me. In the past week, I've transcribed and annotated approximately 12 hours of material, which is about 25 hours of typing, just for work.
-I made an off-hand observation to the researcher who decided that it would be an interesting idea to pursue. This means that now I have to go through all of the transcripts and make note of the length of the pause between every single remark. I'm slightly giddy about making a substantive contribution to this research, but absolutely dreading the work, as it's both incredibly tedious and requires a significant amount of attention to detail.
-It's wonderful to be working with a bunch of people who are interested in many of the same topics, read the same sorts of literature, have similar mental lexicons, and use similar conceptual frameworks as I when it comes to English, linguistics, epistemology, and pedagogy.
-I need to close read Pedagogy, Symbolic Control and Identity by Basil Bernstein, as it's the basis of the conceptual framework of this research. While the subject is interesting, aughlblargh dry horrible writing.
-In the past week, I've consumed more coffee than I had in the entire previous year.
-The Baha'i fast has rolled around again, so I'm surrounded by people who aren't eating or drinking from sunrise to sunset. I don't understand the idea of virtuous restraint, the idea that somehow by denying ourselves things that we rationally desire will make us better, happier, more effective individuals. In fact, the very concept seems fallacious when looked at both from a theistic/religious point of view and an atheistic one.
-Not only do I find the idea of fasting to be baffling, I also think that it's also an indication of how fallible and obsolete the doctrines instructing people to do so are. For instance, many religions that encourage or require some sort of fasting do so of anyone who is post-pubescent and not considered "elderly", with no acknowledgement that people often do not stop growing until their late teens or early twenties. Also, Islam is the only religion that gives exemption from fasting to those who are mentally ill. This shows a serious lack of awareness of the effects of fasting on people with eating disorders, as well as a general disregard for the health of its followers.
-I have Arnott's Tim Tams. From Thailand! They're delicious, and go surprisingly well with PG Tips tea. Guess what breakfast is going to be.
-I made an off-hand observation to the researcher who decided that it would be an interesting idea to pursue. This means that now I have to go through all of the transcripts and make note of the length of the pause between every single remark. I'm slightly giddy about making a substantive contribution to this research, but absolutely dreading the work, as it's both incredibly tedious and requires a significant amount of attention to detail.
-It's wonderful to be working with a bunch of people who are interested in many of the same topics, read the same sorts of literature, have similar mental lexicons, and use similar conceptual frameworks as I when it comes to English, linguistics, epistemology, and pedagogy.
-I need to close read Pedagogy, Symbolic Control and Identity by Basil Bernstein, as it's the basis of the conceptual framework of this research. While the subject is interesting, aughlblargh dry horrible writing.
-In the past week, I've consumed more coffee than I had in the entire previous year.
-The Baha'i fast has rolled around again, so I'm surrounded by people who aren't eating or drinking from sunrise to sunset. I don't understand the idea of virtuous restraint, the idea that somehow by denying ourselves things that we rationally desire will make us better, happier, more effective individuals. In fact, the very concept seems fallacious when looked at both from a theistic/religious point of view and an atheistic one.
-Not only do I find the idea of fasting to be baffling, I also think that it's also an indication of how fallible and obsolete the doctrines instructing people to do so are. For instance, many religions that encourage or require some sort of fasting do so of anyone who is post-pubescent and not considered "elderly", with no acknowledgement that people often do not stop growing until their late teens or early twenties. Also, Islam is the only religion that gives exemption from fasting to those who are mentally ill. This shows a serious lack of awareness of the effects of fasting on people with eating disorders, as well as a general disregard for the health of its followers.
-I have Arnott's Tim Tams. From Thailand! They're delicious, and go surprisingly well with PG Tips tea. Guess what breakfast is going to be.
Sunday, February 27, 2011
It lives!
Jet lag, hurrah! This would be why I've been up since 3 A.M. However, I did not miss any of my flights, managed not to puke my guts out, and while my coccyx is still sore from sitting for so long, no permanent damage was incurred.
I had yesterday to generally lounge around (which involved getting a SIM card for my China!phone, reassuring my mother that no, the rug you're looking at buying is not too big to fit in the living room, and attending an Ayyam-i-Ha party).
The latter was fun but also somewhat discomfiting. Last night was the first time that I attended a Baha'i event since officially leaving the faith a little over a year ago, and I still had this incredibly visceral reaction to the prayers and readings, where part of me was trying to find meaning in the words since I had spent fifteen years trying to force myself to do so and feeling incredibly guilty for not actually believing any of it. And the other part of me was, probably for the first time, noticing how powerful (and dare I say manipulative?) the writing actually is. Thankfully, this helped me feel better about my previous commitment to creating a hole in my life in which to shove religion. I don't know if other people who have left the religion they grew up experience this sort of thing, where even though you no longer believe (or want to believe) that the writings have some sort of spooky supernatural direct line to god you still fall into the habit of seeing them as such. I hope so, as it would make me feel less stupid.
In other news, I read Reality is Broken by Jane McGonigal on the first half of my flight, and it was truly excellent, not only in its analysis of the purpose that games serve in our life, but also in creating a vision in which they can be harnessed for social change. I'd like to go further into how awesome this is, but I'm tired and need to be up because...
I actually have work today! I'm going to be transcribing interviews about critical thinking and its application in different disciplines for. It's wonderful to transcribe things on a topic that you find interesting, especially since if that is the case, chances are you're already familiar with the jargon that might come up.
So, off to get myself out of bed and shower. Have a good day!
I had yesterday to generally lounge around (which involved getting a SIM card for my China!phone, reassuring my mother that no, the rug you're looking at buying is not too big to fit in the living room, and attending an Ayyam-i-Ha party).
The latter was fun but also somewhat discomfiting. Last night was the first time that I attended a Baha'i event since officially leaving the faith a little over a year ago, and I still had this incredibly visceral reaction to the prayers and readings, where part of me was trying to find meaning in the words since I had spent fifteen years trying to force myself to do so and feeling incredibly guilty for not actually believing any of it. And the other part of me was, probably for the first time, noticing how powerful (and dare I say manipulative?) the writing actually is. Thankfully, this helped me feel better about my previous commitment to creating a hole in my life in which to shove religion. I don't know if other people who have left the religion they grew up experience this sort of thing, where even though you no longer believe (or want to believe) that the writings have some sort of spooky supernatural direct line to god you still fall into the habit of seeing them as such. I hope so, as it would make me feel less stupid.
In other news, I read Reality is Broken by Jane McGonigal on the first half of my flight, and it was truly excellent, not only in its analysis of the purpose that games serve in our life, but also in creating a vision in which they can be harnessed for social change. I'd like to go further into how awesome this is, but I'm tired and need to be up because...
I actually have work today! I'm going to be transcribing interviews about critical thinking and its application in different disciplines for. It's wonderful to transcribe things on a topic that you find interesting, especially since if that is the case, chances are you're already familiar with the jargon that might come up.
So, off to get myself out of bed and shower. Have a good day!
Wednesday, February 23, 2011
Announcements
1. I'm leaving for China on Friday. Itinerary below.
3. I got a second pair of piercings in my lobes yesterday, and am quite pleased with the way they turned out. This brings the total of holes in my head to eleven.
4. I have not been able to get this crazy song out of my head for the past week, so I've decided to share the misery. Long live the dragonqueen!
3:30 AM Friday, February 25th- Drive to the closest airport. Pray it doesn't snow. End up leaving earlier due to "chance of snow". Sit in the airport for an hour as it's not actually snowing.
6:00 AM- Flight to Seattle that they claim is 1:30 long but is actually no longer than 00:45. There isn't even time to serve peanuts and watery orange juice.
7:00 AM-1:00 PM- Despair over the airport not having free wifi. Sit in the Borders Books in Sea-Tac. Contemplate buying books for flight. Willpower fails. Buy books. Possibly also coffee and a bagel.
1:00 PM-?????- fly from Seattle to Beijing. Total of 13 hours. Forget to reset watch, think flight is shorter than it actually is. Despair. Read books. Try to sleep. Ask for more coffee. Read 3-day-old newspapers in English and then in Chinese. Spot amusing mistranslation. Giggle madly for ten minutes. Compose myself after stewardess tells me I'm disturbing the other passengers. Pound on my keyboard. Fall asleep. Stare out the window three seats away. Rinse and repeat.
4:30 PM Saturday, February 26th- Arrive in Beijing.
4:30-8:30 PM- Revel in the fact that the Beijing International Airport has free wifi (or at least did the last time that I was there). Entertain myself. Pinch myself to keep from falling asleep and missing my flight.
8:30-10:30 PM- Fly to Ningbo. Curse the fact that I couldn't fly into Shanghai as there isn't a flight from Shanghai to Ningbo anymore. Curb zombieness.
10:30 PM- Collapse.2. When I get to China, there will hopefully be lots of China-related posts. If for some reason my usual way of circumventing Ye Great Olde Firewall (Tor) isn't, Pinkyboo will post for me. I shall not be silenced!
3. I got a second pair of piercings in my lobes yesterday, and am quite pleased with the way they turned out. This brings the total of holes in my head to eleven.
4. I have not been able to get this crazy song out of my head for the past week, so I've decided to share the misery. Long live the dragonqueen!
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