29 May 2007
Is it just me?
Just came across the following statement in a well respected journal (The Lancet):
"The Asian category has a wide geographical variability in its interpretation. Even within the same population, different constructions of the term might exist.7 In the UK, Asian usually refers to "brown" Asians. In the USA, Asian is typically used to describe, "yellow" Asians."
Is it just me, or is that the worse possible way they could have described the difference between use of the term Asian in the UK and USA? Well, perhaps not the worst possible way, but probably the worst way that would still be printed. It sounds like something from the eugenics movement.
Tuesday, 29 May 2007
Monday, 28 May 2007
Computers
28 May 2007
Computer crises
I needed to work today, because I've got a day off this week to have a wisdom tooth removed. However my computer equipment had different ideas. My laptop and desktop decided to stop working on the same day, meaning that I spent approximately:
7 hours trying to fix it including uninstalling and reinstalling the same programme 3 times
1.5 hours swearing and throwing things around the flat
1 hour doing a piece of work the first time
45 minutes re-doing the same piece of work because it didn't save even though it said it had
A further 45 minutes faffing around designing a poster without getting round to putting in any content.
I'll have to hide from my supervisor tomorrow while I do what I was supposed to do today. Could be a small problem during our meeting at 2.30pm, but I plan to take precautions - a fake moustache and glasses should do it.
Computer crises
I needed to work today, because I've got a day off this week to have a wisdom tooth removed. However my computer equipment had different ideas. My laptop and desktop decided to stop working on the same day, meaning that I spent approximately:
7 hours trying to fix it including uninstalling and reinstalling the same programme 3 times
1.5 hours swearing and throwing things around the flat
1 hour doing a piece of work the first time
45 minutes re-doing the same piece of work because it didn't save even though it said it had
A further 45 minutes faffing around designing a poster without getting round to putting in any content.
I'll have to hide from my supervisor tomorrow while I do what I was supposed to do today. Could be a small problem during our meeting at 2.30pm, but I plan to take precautions - a fake moustache and glasses should do it.
Thursday, 24 May 2007
24 May
24 May 2007
Update to the update on my mum's house
I can report that this evening I scrolled through 311 houses for sale within a 5 mile radius of my flat. Of those my mum decided to save 42, not a bad percentage. She was highly indignant that the estate agents she visited today hadn't offered her some of the houses on the website. I kept saying soothingly 'perhaps it isn't updated that often'. She however is convinced it was a plot to persuade her to buy a more expensive house that they've been unable to get rid of. She could well be right. She was also concerned that most of the bungalows were offered as vacant possession, most probably meaning the former owner died. I think she wondered if owning a bungalow might lead directly to sudden death.... By the end I felt like the search process was more likely to lead to sudden death - we were both slumped over the desk, eyes glazed, muttering 'keep', 'don't keep', 'keep', 'keep', 'don't keep'.
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Who would work in the city?
Just picked up an email from a friend who's a lawyer at a city firm. Sent from her work address, she said 'well, it's getting late, I'd better head home'. It was sent at QUARTER TO 1 in the morning.... This now joins the other 2675 reasons why I didn't even try working in that kind of job - I need to do my cleaning at 12.45am, I can't possibly still be at work then!
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Update on my mum's house
I got a text message yesterday to tell me that my mum has had an offer on her house. This creates a small problem, because she gave up looking for houses 'because there was no point finding one she liked if she didn't have a buyer for her house'. Now she's decided that the world wide interweb net is the only way to look at a load of houses quickly, so is coming round to my flat tonight to use the computer. The request was phrased in that way, but in fact she'll come round and watch me use the computer, because crawling round to each individual estate agent on our knees would probably be quicker than my mum using the internet.
Update to the update on my mum's house
I can report that this evening I scrolled through 311 houses for sale within a 5 mile radius of my flat. Of those my mum decided to save 42, not a bad percentage. She was highly indignant that the estate agents she visited today hadn't offered her some of the houses on the website. I kept saying soothingly 'perhaps it isn't updated that often'. She however is convinced it was a plot to persuade her to buy a more expensive house that they've been unable to get rid of. She could well be right. She was also concerned that most of the bungalows were offered as vacant possession, most probably meaning the former owner died. I think she wondered if owning a bungalow might lead directly to sudden death.... By the end I felt like the search process was more likely to lead to sudden death - we were both slumped over the desk, eyes glazed, muttering 'keep', 'don't keep', 'keep', 'keep', 'don't keep'.
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Who would work in the city?
Just picked up an email from a friend who's a lawyer at a city firm. Sent from her work address, she said 'well, it's getting late, I'd better head home'. It was sent at QUARTER TO 1 in the morning.... This now joins the other 2675 reasons why I didn't even try working in that kind of job - I need to do my cleaning at 12.45am, I can't possibly still be at work then!
10:36 - 0 Comments - 0 Kudos - Add Comment - Edit - Remove
Update on my mum's house
I got a text message yesterday to tell me that my mum has had an offer on her house. This creates a small problem, because she gave up looking for houses 'because there was no point finding one she liked if she didn't have a buyer for her house'. Now she's decided that the world wide interweb net is the only way to look at a load of houses quickly, so is coming round to my flat tonight to use the computer. The request was phrased in that way, but in fact she'll come round and watch me use the computer, because crawling round to each individual estate agent on our knees would probably be quicker than my mum using the internet.
Tuesday, 22 May 2007
Bowling along
22 May 2007
Bowling along.... Current mood: awake
I've been bowling tonight and am pleased to announce that I got the top score. This is not as impressive as it sounds, since it was almost entirely due to luck and the fact that we played the game with the bumpers down. This meant it was almost impossible to get 0, a score that I would normally be well acquainted with, especially since almost all my points were scored after bouncing off the bumpers. It was interesting to see what the people who had bowled more than once before thought about having the bumpers down - some people thought it was great, and the grouchy gits in the corner thought it was cheating and missed the point of playing. I naturally sided with the grouchy old gits....
I also threw caution to the wind and had a cup of coffee after 6pm. Talk about excitement - playing with the bumpers down! Drinking coffee! That's the kind of rock and roll girl I am... This is also why I'm writing a blog at 11.30pm. I do find it a bit worrying that a late coffee on an empty stomach has the same effect on me as binge drinking has on other people (haven't we all sent a caffeinated text to the wrong person at 2am? No, just me then?), but I console myself with the thought that it's cheap, legal, and doesn't make me throw up...
Bowling along.... Current mood: awake
I've been bowling tonight and am pleased to announce that I got the top score. This is not as impressive as it sounds, since it was almost entirely due to luck and the fact that we played the game with the bumpers down. This meant it was almost impossible to get 0, a score that I would normally be well acquainted with, especially since almost all my points were scored after bouncing off the bumpers. It was interesting to see what the people who had bowled more than once before thought about having the bumpers down - some people thought it was great, and the grouchy gits in the corner thought it was cheating and missed the point of playing. I naturally sided with the grouchy old gits....
I also threw caution to the wind and had a cup of coffee after 6pm. Talk about excitement - playing with the bumpers down! Drinking coffee! That's the kind of rock and roll girl I am... This is also why I'm writing a blog at 11.30pm. I do find it a bit worrying that a late coffee on an empty stomach has the same effect on me as binge drinking has on other people (haven't we all sent a caffeinated text to the wrong person at 2am? No, just me then?), but I console myself with the thought that it's cheap, legal, and doesn't make me throw up...
Monday, 14 May 2007
Random thoughts
14 May 2007
random thoughts Current mood: chipper
I don't have much time, but a couple of random thoughts.
1. Who on earth are all these people reading this blog- or at least visiting the page, even if not reading it? I've only given the address out to about 10 people, and I can't believe they're all visiting the page several times a day desperate to find out what's been happening to my flatmate's goldfish etc. So if you're one of the mystery visitors, hello, why not give me a wave and leave a comment?!
2. I forgot that today had been appointed 'departmental photograph' day. If I'd remembered I might have worn a slightly less lurid top, and I definitely would've brought some heavy duty frizz ease with me. I have big hair, in fact very very big hair, at the best of times, let alone on a windy and rainy day. We did get the opportunity to look at the photo before it was printed, but it would have felt a bit too vain to ask her to re-take it - the service is really for taking medical images of actual sick people, which is probably a little more serious that the departmental who's who board.
random thoughts Current mood: chipper
I don't have much time, but a couple of random thoughts.
1. Who on earth are all these people reading this blog- or at least visiting the page, even if not reading it? I've only given the address out to about 10 people, and I can't believe they're all visiting the page several times a day desperate to find out what's been happening to my flatmate's goldfish etc. So if you're one of the mystery visitors, hello, why not give me a wave and leave a comment?!
2. I forgot that today had been appointed 'departmental photograph' day. If I'd remembered I might have worn a slightly less lurid top, and I definitely would've brought some heavy duty frizz ease with me. I have big hair, in fact very very big hair, at the best of times, let alone on a windy and rainy day. We did get the opportunity to look at the photo before it was printed, but it would have felt a bit too vain to ask her to re-take it - the service is really for taking medical images of actual sick people, which is probably a little more serious that the departmental who's who board.
Thursday, 10 May 2007
10 May
10 May 2007
tony blair
Pleased to note that Tony Blair first became prime minister on my mum's birthday 10 years ago and will step down on my birthday this year. I'm sure this is a sign... of... something...!!??!
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graduation
Yesterday was my MSc graduation, an opportunity to pay large amounts of money to flounce around in a big flappy gown and worry about tripping up the steps onto the stage. Unlike my first graduation (yes, I'm collecting them), my grandma was too frail to come, meaning that the assembled masses missed out on the once in a lifetime opportunity of witnessing an octogenarian in an electric blue suit making inappropriate comments in a stage whisper that's louder than most people's normal speaking voices (she's deaf). Best comment from last time was "Oh my gawd, there's another lot of them, we'll be here all day", to which my mum's embarrassed reply was "No, they're the same ones, they've just come back in."
The electric blue suit did have it's advantages however, since it was easy to spot where they were sitting amongst the sea of grey and black office suits that everyone else was wearing. It would have been more difficult to spot them this time, as my mum and sister steadfastly refused to wear neon clothing, had I not accidentally got them seated in the disabled section. They had front row seats, and a whole row to themselves, and seats that swiveled round so that people with mobility problems don't have to get up to let people past... This happened because my mum genuinely does have severe vertigo and a minor eyesight problem.... I put in a request for them to be seated as close to the ground as possible on this basis (missing out the word minor), and it was evidently taken as a request for accessible seating... Ah well... it was probably a good thing in the end, the seats obviously weren't needed by anyone else, and the families of the people sitting either side of me were up on the 4th floor balcony - my sister possibly would've had to carry mum down from there.
tony blair
Pleased to note that Tony Blair first became prime minister on my mum's birthday 10 years ago and will step down on my birthday this year. I'm sure this is a sign... of... something...!!??!
16:41 - 0 Comments - 0 Kudos - Add Comment - Edit - Remove
graduation
Yesterday was my MSc graduation, an opportunity to pay large amounts of money to flounce around in a big flappy gown and worry about tripping up the steps onto the stage. Unlike my first graduation (yes, I'm collecting them), my grandma was too frail to come, meaning that the assembled masses missed out on the once in a lifetime opportunity of witnessing an octogenarian in an electric blue suit making inappropriate comments in a stage whisper that's louder than most people's normal speaking voices (she's deaf). Best comment from last time was "Oh my gawd, there's another lot of them, we'll be here all day", to which my mum's embarrassed reply was "No, they're the same ones, they've just come back in."
The electric blue suit did have it's advantages however, since it was easy to spot where they were sitting amongst the sea of grey and black office suits that everyone else was wearing. It would have been more difficult to spot them this time, as my mum and sister steadfastly refused to wear neon clothing, had I not accidentally got them seated in the disabled section. They had front row seats, and a whole row to themselves, and seats that swiveled round so that people with mobility problems don't have to get up to let people past... This happened because my mum genuinely does have severe vertigo and a minor eyesight problem.... I put in a request for them to be seated as close to the ground as possible on this basis (missing out the word minor), and it was evidently taken as a request for accessible seating... Ah well... it was probably a good thing in the end, the seats obviously weren't needed by anyone else, and the families of the people sitting either side of me were up on the 4th floor balcony - my sister possibly would've had to carry mum down from there.
Sunday, 6 May 2007
6 MAy
06 May 2007
60th birthday continued
The 60th birthday that my mum wasn't celebrating continued yesterday with an outing to the Isle of Wight. Going there is always like going back to the 1950s. On the bus I heard a woman resident say that she hadn't been to one of the main island towns for a few years - bearing in mind that the island is something like 20 miles long by 15 miles wide, this seemed like quite an impressive achievement.
I'd looked up what was happening there yesterday, and discovered it was the first day of their walking festival. It was being opened by a speed dating ramble. There was also going to be a speed dating dog walk. I think it was the owners looking for a date not the dogs, but I'm not certain. I did suggest that speed dating ramble to my mum, but she wasn't keen. I'm not sure whether she was more alarmed at the thought of the speed dating or the rambling. At Bonus Lady's suggestion I did wear my glittery stiletto walking boots just in case, but I didn't spot anyone giving them admiring glances.
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60th
My mum was 60 this week. I was under strict instructions not to tell anyone or make a fuss, an instruction disregarded by her work colleagues. One of them in particular has spent the last 3 months telling every patient that came in to the dental surgery that they were 'celebrating a big birthday this year', and on the day itself canvassed every patient to see if any of them would sing happy birthday (they wouldn't). Her colleagues also decided it would be a good idea for me to get my mum to go out to a 'family' meal, and her work friends would be there when we arrived. Sounds quite reasonable, except that my mum has always said she'd rather die than have a surprise birthday party - and I don't think she's exaggerating. So after a little surreptitious texting of my sister, we decided that the thing to do was agree to the meal but tell my mum as well, to remove the alarming surprise element.
This plan worked fine, although it did test my mum's acting skills on the night. We also couldn't tell my grandma, for fear that she'd announce something along the lines of "yes, they told me you'd be here but we had to pretend it's a surprise." My gran doesn't do subtlety. I'm not sure she ever did, but it's definitely got worse as she's got older.She also spent the whole evening calling my mum's boss 'the guvnor', with my mum hissing 'she's called the DENTIST' at intervals. Come to think of it, my gran may have become more Cockney as well as less subtle as she's got older...
60th birthday continued
The 60th birthday that my mum wasn't celebrating continued yesterday with an outing to the Isle of Wight. Going there is always like going back to the 1950s. On the bus I heard a woman resident say that she hadn't been to one of the main island towns for a few years - bearing in mind that the island is something like 20 miles long by 15 miles wide, this seemed like quite an impressive achievement.
I'd looked up what was happening there yesterday, and discovered it was the first day of their walking festival. It was being opened by a speed dating ramble. There was also going to be a speed dating dog walk. I think it was the owners looking for a date not the dogs, but I'm not certain. I did suggest that speed dating ramble to my mum, but she wasn't keen. I'm not sure whether she was more alarmed at the thought of the speed dating or the rambling. At Bonus Lady's suggestion I did wear my glittery stiletto walking boots just in case, but I didn't spot anyone giving them admiring glances.
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60th
My mum was 60 this week. I was under strict instructions not to tell anyone or make a fuss, an instruction disregarded by her work colleagues. One of them in particular has spent the last 3 months telling every patient that came in to the dental surgery that they were 'celebrating a big birthday this year', and on the day itself canvassed every patient to see if any of them would sing happy birthday (they wouldn't). Her colleagues also decided it would be a good idea for me to get my mum to go out to a 'family' meal, and her work friends would be there when we arrived. Sounds quite reasonable, except that my mum has always said she'd rather die than have a surprise birthday party - and I don't think she's exaggerating. So after a little surreptitious texting of my sister, we decided that the thing to do was agree to the meal but tell my mum as well, to remove the alarming surprise element.
This plan worked fine, although it did test my mum's acting skills on the night. We also couldn't tell my grandma, for fear that she'd announce something along the lines of "yes, they told me you'd be here but we had to pretend it's a surprise." My gran doesn't do subtlety. I'm not sure she ever did, but it's definitely got worse as she's got older.She also spent the whole evening calling my mum's boss 'the guvnor', with my mum hissing 'she's called the DENTIST' at intervals. Come to think of it, my gran may have become more Cockney as well as less subtle as she's got older...
Tuesday, 1 May 2007
1 MAy
01 May 2007
Blogging against disablism
As I'm sure everyone knows, today is interesting for 3 reasons:1. It's the 10 year anniversary of Tony Blair becoming prime minister 2. It's my mum's 60th birthday 3. It's blogging against disablism day Blogging against disablism dayThere's a snazzy image that goes with it, but I can't work out how to get it on to here - so you'll just have to go and have a look for yourself!
I'm planning to ignore 1), might blog more about 2) after tonight's birthday dinner, and like the good disability activist that I am, join in with 3) by blogging (briefly!) about some random thoughts on disablism.
Disablism is discrimination against people on the grounds of disability. Just like we have the race relations act that supposedly protects people from racism, the disability discrimination act is meant to protect the rights of disabled people. Leaving aside the question of whether either act actually manages what it sets out to do, social attitudes are at least as important as the law. Recent reports have shown a) a high level of social discrimination against disabled people (questions were along the lines of 'how would you feel if someone with X impairment moved in next door/married your sister) and b) that employers basically think it's too much effort to employ disabled people because "they don't know what words to use to describe disability". Right.
Part of last nights housegroup discussion about Selfish Young People went on to talk about how people don't have any time, that they're constantly busy with jobs, kids, houses etc. And though the discussion didn't go there, one of my big things is that people use this 'i'm so busy' thing as a marker of status, that the 'correct' answer to 'how are you' is 'oh, stressed, lots going on, you know'. But last night one person sat up and said, "I have too much time, what is there to do?" And weirdly that felt like a courageous thing she did - which is ridiculous, when did it get to be brave to admit you're not busy?
This may be a random leap of thinking, but to me the last 2 paragraphs are connected. When society only or mainly values one particular way of being (i.e. the multi tasking superhuman), people who can't for some reason live up to that ideal are going to be seen as less valuable. Obviously some disabled people are great at being superhuman multitaskers, but some aren't. Some disabilities mean that people do things a different way, or they do it a bit slower, or they need some assistance doing it. But instead of being seen as different ways of getting to the same place, it's seen as not quite 'right'. We've started valuing people as human doings, not human beings. I have friends who feel that they're not important, that they lack value, just because they don't have a salaried job... How does that happen??
Admittedly these thoughts are coming mainly from my experience in the worlds of mental health and learning disability, both of which often carry an even greater stigma than physical disability, so I might be a bit biased. But I do find it quite worrying when even in a church setting, the talk immediately turns to what people should be doing (generally for the church or community, depending on the christian persuasion!) - we talk about a faith that says every person has innate value, of a creator who knows the whole of creation intimately, of loving god and other people, and then get side tracked into focusing on what people are or aren't doing. That's a risky strategy in my opinion - it's letting culture dictate faith... Not that I'm arguing that christians should just sit around navel gazing, but that takes us away from disablism and will have to wait for another post I think!
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Blogging against disablism
As I'm sure everyone knows, today is interesting for 3 reasons:1. It's the 10 year anniversary of Tony Blair becoming prime minister 2. It's my mum's 60th birthday 3. It's blogging against disablism day Blogging against disablism dayThere's a snazzy image that goes with it, but I can't work out how to get it on to here - so you'll just have to go and have a look for yourself!
I'm planning to ignore 1), might blog more about 2) after tonight's birthday dinner, and like the good disability activist that I am, join in with 3) by blogging (briefly!) about some random thoughts on disablism.
Disablism is discrimination against people on the grounds of disability. Just like we have the race relations act that supposedly protects people from racism, the disability discrimination act is meant to protect the rights of disabled people. Leaving aside the question of whether either act actually manages what it sets out to do, social attitudes are at least as important as the law. Recent reports have shown a) a high level of social discrimination against disabled people (questions were along the lines of 'how would you feel if someone with X impairment moved in next door/married your sister) and b) that employers basically think it's too much effort to employ disabled people because "they don't know what words to use to describe disability". Right.
Part of last nights housegroup discussion about Selfish Young People went on to talk about how people don't have any time, that they're constantly busy with jobs, kids, houses etc. And though the discussion didn't go there, one of my big things is that people use this 'i'm so busy' thing as a marker of status, that the 'correct' answer to 'how are you' is 'oh, stressed, lots going on, you know'. But last night one person sat up and said, "I have too much time, what is there to do?" And weirdly that felt like a courageous thing she did - which is ridiculous, when did it get to be brave to admit you're not busy?
This may be a random leap of thinking, but to me the last 2 paragraphs are connected. When society only or mainly values one particular way of being (i.e. the multi tasking superhuman), people who can't for some reason live up to that ideal are going to be seen as less valuable. Obviously some disabled people are great at being superhuman multitaskers, but some aren't. Some disabilities mean that people do things a different way, or they do it a bit slower, or they need some assistance doing it. But instead of being seen as different ways of getting to the same place, it's seen as not quite 'right'. We've started valuing people as human doings, not human beings. I have friends who feel that they're not important, that they lack value, just because they don't have a salaried job... How does that happen??
Admittedly these thoughts are coming mainly from my experience in the worlds of mental health and learning disability, both of which often carry an even greater stigma than physical disability, so I might be a bit biased. But I do find it quite worrying when even in a church setting, the talk immediately turns to what people should be doing (generally for the church or community, depending on the christian persuasion!) - we talk about a faith that says every person has innate value, of a creator who knows the whole of creation intimately, of loving god and other people, and then get side tracked into focusing on what people are or aren't doing. That's a risky strategy in my opinion - it's letting culture dictate faith... Not that I'm arguing that christians should just sit around navel gazing, but that takes us away from disablism and will have to wait for another post I think!
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