-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 had a HUGE reply post here that Blogger decided to eat up and destroy on me. Should'a saved it.
ReplyDeleteLong story short - Yay for Rissycredits! Boo for work being hard! Sharing in the pain of annoying tedium! Also thinking fasting is kind of silly and based on agricultural trends but not having actual background to confirm this theory! Tim Tams look tasty!
...The longer post was better. <.<; I assure you.
Thinking about it now, the best reason I can think of for a religious fast would be if it was that you shouldn't eat for x period because you should instead be spending that time doing something viewed as more important for your religion. Of course in this case x period would probably have to be shorter than your average actual religious fast.
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