no TV and no internet make Crimson Crusader something something...

You know it's the end of the line when I'm quoting from the Simpsons. Anyway, just a quick post to say that equilibrium has been restored with the installation of the internet (in the form of broadband, no less) at our house. Hooray! Now we will never have to talk to each other again, and can instead sit in separate rooms shouting to each other randomly. It's going to be great. So apologies (again) for the lack of posts, but they will be much more regular from now on.

In other news, my plan to ascend the library ladder (HA!) is working like a charm, with a recent "promotion" (if you will, I'm not sure if I will) to a different department. Now I get to do Kraaazy Kataloguing (well, you know it's crazy when I'm doing it!), but not all the time, thank goodness. The scary thing is, I'm rather enjoying it. Kill me now, before I graduate and become a cataloguer full time.

Exam techniques

First of all, sorry about the lack of posting. I've been both moving and exam-ing, and believe me, the exams were more painful than the move. But now both are finished so I am free to talk about exam technique. Other people's exam techniques have always fascinated me. I don't mean actual techniques for passing an exam, like, you know, studying, or cheating, or whichever takes your fancy. I'm talking about coping techniques for getting through the 2 or 3 hours you have to sit there.

I don't fuss much over exams. I go in, scribble madly for 2 hours, and leave. I never take any food in but I do usually have a bottle of water. I have lots and lots of pens. But that's as far as I go in the exam room. Last week, in a 2 hour exam, I was amused to see a girl with a full thermos of coffee on her desk, which she poured cups of coffee from every few minutes. In a three-hour exam the week before, someone had brought what looked like their whole lunch in, including sandwich, drink and fruit for after. This seemed to me a bit excessive. The exam was over by 12.30. Surely you can wait til then to have lunch? Personally, I would be worried about spending too much time eating, drinking or pouring to properly concentrate on the exam, or that I'd run out of time. But apparently other people don't have these worries.

The other eternal mystery of exams is where the Invigilators come from. First of all, the word "invigilator" is really funny. I'm going to prove that by using it as many times as possible in this paragraph. For the uninitiated, invigilators are the old men and women who supervise the exams, hand out exam papers, and that kind of thing. They have funny badges which say "Hi! I'm invigilator..." and then their name. Who wants to spend whole days supervising students? Don't they have anything better to do? The main issue I have with invigilators is if you do ask them for something, they never bring what you want. And it takes them 10 minutes to not bring you what you want. Ask for another script book, you'll get a glass of water after the exam has finished. Ask for a glass of water, you'll get a tissue. If you ask for a tissue, they'll probably show you where the toilets are. Observing the politics between the invigilators is also funny. Last week, on invigilator was obviously not impressed with the speed of which another invigilator was collecting exams. She muscled in and started collecting exams at a very fast speed, but seemed to have forgotten she was meant to be making announcements as well. The result: we sat there for an extra 5 minutes until she told us we could go. Finally, I wonder where invigilators go between exam periods (ie most of the year). Do they display their invigilator badges proudly, and show them off to all their friends? Or do they store them secretly, biding their time before they can next break out the invigilator badge? Heavy issues, indeed.

"I used to play the clarinet"

I used to play the clarinet. Actually, I played it for a number of years, and in the process received a general classical music education, and music theory thrown in for good measure. People are sometimes surprised when I display this (somewhat arbitrary) kmowledge, and I explain it by saying that I used to play the clarinet.

The strange thing is that the most common reply I get is "yes, so did I". I've come to the conclusion that EVERYONE used to play the clarinet, forced to learn by parents or schools. I'm not sure why schools choose clarinet to learn above anything else - it's not that easy to begin (flute or saxaphone are easier), you make horrible noises on it for about a year, then you do OK for a while, and you reach a plateau much earlier than you do on flute or sax, where you feel you're not making any progress for ages. Personally, I think that masses of bad-sounding clarinets (I do have fond memories of playing in my school's band) are one of the worst things to come out of almost compulsory musical instrument learning that schools seem to employ these days.

The clarinet has thus become the much maligned school band instrument. From the replies "yes, so did I", it's clear that schools aren't working hard enough to keep their students playing the clarinet after they leave. But I think the problem is forcing kids onto an instrument they don't like just because it's more accepted as a beginner's instrument than some of the harder ones.

I feel sorry for parents who have to sit through their children's renditions of the second movement of Mozart's Clarinet Concerto, or anything clarinet by Weber (there's a lot) wishing they'd got their children to take up nicer sounding instruments, such as percussion perhaps, or the french horn (!). But I can't help thinking they've brought it on themselves, at least just a little.

Train Etiquette, part 1

Train Etiquette is an important issue, I think. After all, complete strangers are all stuffed into a small space, with little room to breathe, let alone move. Personal space is a must in this situation. I've decided to make a bit of an ongoing series regarding train etiquette as it's an ongoing issue. What I would like to talk about today are the people who take their shoes off in the train. This happens more frequently than you might think, even though winter has now officially arrived, and more and more people are wearing boots or thick shoes to work. When you are wearing sandals, it's pretty easy to slip them off and makes little difference to the people around you, since it's not like you were wearing socks in the first place. But now it's winter, people are pulling off their boots, and sometimes their socks as well, and airing their feet on the train. This mostly happens during the evening rush hour, when trains are stuffed full of people anyway, and the trains are all stinky from being used all day. So it's extra nice when people peel off their super sweaty socks and let their feet funk mingle with the other stinky smells.

I can't really understand why people do this. I mean, I do, and it's obviously related to the uncomfortableness of their shoes/socks combo that they've chosen to wear. I don't have much sympathy for this. If you are wearing such uncomfortable shoes that you can't even wait until you get home to take them off, you probably shouldn't wear them to work all day! I think if you've made that decision, you should suffer in silence until you reach home. The other, also unattractive, option, is to carry a pair of sneakers and change before you leave work. This was very popular about 5 years ago, and there's less people doing it now, but it is one option. The other option, is to choose shoes that are actually comfortable enough to survive a whole day's work in!!! It is possible to buy stylish shoes which are actually comfortable! Particularly for work! I don't understand why people buy shoes specifically for work that are too uncomfortable to wear. And I certainly think that train etiquette demands that you have the good sense to keep your shoes on until you arrive home, and keep your smelly feet to yourself.