This week I have been Reading
The 2011 Tour de France race guide.
Watching
An Idiot Abroad
Listening to
The xx
Discovering
(Or rediscovering) Hamlet - Nicki Greenberg's beautiful new version, thanks to the fabulous Snarkattack, who invited me along to see Nicki talk about the creative process behind the book.
Eating
- An enormous serve of bangers'n'mash and a nourishing pint of Kilkenny at the Town Hall one dismal Tuesday evening.
- A "Chachi" - chianina meatball sandwich - another brioche donut and some amazing chocolate tart at Beatrix, which Essjay has reviewed.
- A lazy Sunday lunch at The Crimean. The Polish hunter's stew (bigos) was just the thing to revive me after a chilly bike ride.
- Generous piles of fried food with oodles of chillies and sichuan peppercorns at Sichuan House
- Succulent suckling pig at Liberteene.
- An array of bright, zesty flavours at Chin Chin, where the only problem was having to choose only some of the items from what looks to be a menu that is all hits, no filler.
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By Injera, on May 20th, 2010% I’m aiming to post a Simply Baking recap tomorrow, but the Masterchef Madness over at Reality Ravings has been dominating my blogging time. There’s only one night a week that doesn’t have a Masterchef episode, so it’s a bit of a marathon at the moment. If there is such a thing as a marathon that goes over a number of weeks, for 30 to 60 minutes at a time.
I’m still trying to figure out why I decided to participate in the 501words project, but I did (actually, I do know what prompted me to participate… procrastination. TatteredEdges tweeted about it just as I was about to get stuck into some work prep, so it was only natural that I signed up there and then). My daily blogging has been interrupted by a laptop crisis, but I’m planning to get back into it once I have my own keyboard back.
By Injera, on March 10th, 2010% I was alerted to the fact that the font on comments is really small. Like, TINY. Everything looks dandy when I check the blog on my browser (I use Chrome), but I did have a look using Firefox at work and… yeah. Could hardly make out the bottom part of half of my posts. (Admittedly, the work computer also decided that my header was an ad that needed to be blocked, so I’m not sure how reliable that system is.)
I’d hate to be straining people’s eyes unnecessarily – please let me know if there are some strange things afoot when you view the site (it would be good if you could also tell me what browser you use).
Hoping to get this sorted…
By Injera, on January 5th, 2010% Do not be alarmed by the portentous title – it’s much less a manifesto than an exercise in alliteration.
As mentioned at the end of the last post, resolutions are not really my thing, although I do have some plans for the year ahead. One of those is to relax more, which can only be achieved if I recognise the fact that “relaxing” is not the same as being merely slothful; lazing about does not necessarily equal relaxation. When Daniel noted in a comment on the handwriting post that he was attempting not to multi-task, it really struck a chord. There’s rarely a time when I don’t have the computer on with email open, a few tabs in a browser and Tweetdeck buzzing every few minutes (seconds, sometimes). The TV is often on in the background, even when I’m reading. If I’m actually watching a program, I’ll rarely see it through without having read – and probably responded – to an SMS or online message that comes through. If I’m on the phone, I might be sweeping the floor, wiping down benches, putting washing away.
The monotasking plan is for January, at this stage. While I have time on my hands, it’s a habit rather than a necessity to do more than one thing at a time. So, what does “one thing at a time” mean?
At the moment, I’m writing a blog post. That’s all I’m doing. That’s the only thing open on my desktop. When I’ve finished this, I’m going to check my email. Once I’ve done that, I’m going to log out of it – there’s no need for me to have it open at all times.
This might be antithetical to the idea of Twitter, but I’m going to try not having my notifications enabled in Tweetdeck. This means that I won’t be responding immediately to tweets, or opening up links as soon as they come through, unless I’m actually focussing on catching up it.
I’m going to try only having one tab open when browsing the internet. I’ve fallen into the habit of opening links and then not knowing what relevance the article/web-page/LOLcat has once I finally get to it, or who I should thank for the enlightenment or belly laugh. The same goes for when I’m going through my RSS reader. There’s no need to open five articles at a time – if I want to read one, I’ll read it.
When I’m watching TV, I’m going to turn my computer off1. When I’m not watching TV, I’m turning the TV off2. When I’m on the phone, that’s what I’ll be doing. No sweeping, unpacking the dishwasher, clearing the pantry.
When I’m reading a book, I’ll be reading a book. No other distractions3.
I’m hoping that in doing this I’ll be more focussed on what I’m doing, when I’m doing it. That instead of putzing about all day getting through a Google reader backlog, I’ll read what interests me, discard what doesn’t, and have time to go for a swim, get to the market, read my book and have a crack at some of the DVDs I had set aside for the holidays.
I’m hoping that, come February, I won’t have holiday regret.
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1. Unless I’m blogging the show, of course.
2. That goes for when I’m cooking, too. Unless there’s cricket. Cricket doesn’t count.
3. Except that I’ll probably have some music on.
By Injera, on December 28th, 2009% Two separate articles in the same paper had me scratching my head. The first explored the idea that handwriting is “history”, whilst the second lauded the Tablet as the gadget of 2010.
The idea that handwriting is a communication tool that’s had its day is not new – its critics, however, are not united in agreeing the basis of their relief that it’s dying. Anne Trubek (whose work was the basis of the Times piece) believes that it is “inefficient”; that the time taken to jot something down is time we could be spending in thought. She also discusses how it is more democratic due to standardisation. People can’t make judgements about a correspondent’s social position or intelligence based purely on the look of a typed text (however an affection for Comic Sans might lead to some negative assumptions being made). Others have spent so much time in the keyboard age, that their writing skills have diminished and believe that this is not something to lament.
Efficiency
I recently bought a Smartpen and it satisfies both my love for new gadgets and my affection for handwriting. Of course I type, but I treasure the activity of writing as something that allows me to give greater consideration to my thoughts. Once I’ve written notes, I can upload them to the computer and transfer it to editable text. The Smartpen is much handier to carry around than my laptop so I can make notes on the fly with greater ease. It’s the best of both worlds.
Obsolescence
For me, typing is far easier – and much quicker – than writing. This is not, however, the case for a lot of people, including – it seems to me from observation – young people who are so often touted as being in a post-handwriting generation. This is mostly because nobody has actually taught them to type, so their typing is inefficient and often full of errors. I don’t look back on my old manual typewriter lessons days with a great deal of nostalgia, however knowing how to touch type means that I can type at around 90 words a minute and do other things at the same time. Most people I’ve watched – in the workplace, at internet cafes, in libraries – are still pecking away at the keyboard, searching for the c. Often at home I’m amazed by the furious, lengthy tapping over at the other laptop in the house and wonder what opus is being created, only to be Skyped with a couple of words and a URL.
Handwriting in technology
Regardless of whether you think the kids of today need to practice their copperplate or not, it seems odd that the same paper sang the praises of the anticipated tablets, given that having recognisable handwriting would seem to be one of the prerequisites of getting the most out of this technology. I haven’t seen all that much about the new tablets, but – as usual – the press seems to be getting most excited about the anticipated offering from Apple.
For my money, this Microsoft offering seems to be the lustworthiest. Perhaps because it looks like an old fashioned journal? I want one…
By injera, on July 28th, 2009% I think I’m happier with my Madmen avatar than I was with my Manga:
Now, as it’s almost cocktail hour, where’s my martini?
By injera, on July 20th, 2009% Violence is everybody’s problem, according to the Editorial page in Saturday’s Age. Violence might be “everybody’s problem”, but the bigger problem is that the government is currently spinning “everybody’s problem” to mean “everybody’s responsibility” and, in doing so, is avoiding taking any steps to counter it.
The full article is here; below are some items of particular interest to me.
Continue reading The problem of violence, and the non-solutions
By injera, on May 16th, 2009% My poor blog. I’ve got at least a dozen drafts sitting there whilst I succumb to the instant gratification of Twitter and the novelty of my guest role over at Reality Ravings. I’d just publish one of the drafts, as a placeholder, but I’ve looked at them all and they are only drafts in the sense that they are sitting in that part of WordPress. They are actually just links to articles that I read, got riled up over, and thought “I need to write about that”. I haven’t. I probably won’t. Still, their existence is of some comfort to me…
I will be back.
By injera, on April 27th, 2009% There is no more perfect recipe for self-delusion than to suppose that being a television personality is some kind of achievement in itself. The best insurance to stop it happening is to keep a recording of say, Beethoven’s 7th Symphony nearby in order to remind yourself of what an actual achievement is.
Clive James, BBC
By injera, on April 5th, 2009% How did I miss this?
Usually I am counting down for weeks. This, after all, is the day of the extra hour of sleep.
Not this year.
It’s 7.40 on a Sunday and I am up and ready to go.
Not fair!
By injera, on February 10th, 2009% Because there’s nothing I can say:
The Australian Red Cross Victorian Bushfire Appeal is up and running.
How will the money be used?
The donations will assist individuals, organisations and communities who meet the criteria set up by an independent panel of community leaders who will oversee the appeal Fund’s operation. Criteria for assistance will include the extent of the hardship covered and the extent to which a person’s livelihood and infrastructure has been impacted.
How much is Red Cross taking for Administration Costs?
Red Cross will not deduct any funds from this appeal for administration costs. All funds received will be kept in a Trust Fund set up by the Victorian Government.
Is my donation tax deductible?
All donations over $2 are tax deductible.
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