Literary Snobbery

There's a huge stereotype surrounding the "indie rocker". You know the type:

- knows loads about music
- dabbles in music creation of their own
- must know a band before they're cool
- once a band sells out, they can't be good.

I think I might be the same way about books. I'm happiest reading something when it isn't *too* cool (exception: Harry Potter). I:

- know a fair amount about science fiction/fantasy literature, I've been an avid reader in the past
- I have dabbled in penning (or typing) my own stories.

Here are the kickers, that make me doubt my interests:

- I like being the person to "discover" an author before their book hits the bestseller list at chapters.
- Once a book is too popular, I feel less good about reading it. I read the Davinci Code on the bus once, and felt like I needed to conceal the cover.

I just bought "Godel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid" with a birthday gift certificate (yes, my birthday was more than six months ago), and I felt it was a very cool and science-y thing to be reading. It would give me cred.

Upon examining it more closely, I have noticed that it's a 20th anniversary re-print. It's been on the New York Times Bestseller List. Tragedy! I'll have to look elsewhere for my indie cred.

Vocabulary lesson for the day

Discreet vs. Discrete

This is a little trickier than affect/effect because both these words are adjectives.

discreet: circumspect, prudent, trustworthy

discrete: separate and distinct

The difference in the definition of these words generally results in amusing sentences when they're mixed up:

"She was not a very discrete person."
"They claim that any discreet image can be defined by..."

Divine Inspiration

Today I was visited by the gods of procrastination. There can simply be no other explanation as to why I decided to make a quiche this afternoon. That's right -with home made pastry.

The pastry is in the oven right now, we'll see how it turns out.

Observation of the Day: Writing a Paper is like Cardio...

It breaks down into the following stages:

1) Easy stamina: "I can't believe I've gone 5 minutes already, and I'm not even winded!" OR "I can't believe I've written 6 pages already - I've still got so much to say, and I haven't even added the figures!"

2) Fear of what's to come: "I'm at 10 minutes and I'm starting to feel fatigued... it's only getting worse ... I'm going to die here!" OR "I'm only at 11 pages and I'm through half my arguments, but only 1/3 of the way through the minimum page count".

3) Depression: "I can't take one more step - I have to stop before I keel over/sweat publicly, and I still have 7 minutes to go!" OR "I'm never going to finish this! I have nothing else to say, I've added all my figures, and I still have 7 pages to go!"

4) Sheer willpower: "Must..keep... feet...moving" OR "Must... keep... fingers... typing..."

5) Endorphins: "Only 30 seconds to go! I can do this" OR "One page left, and my discussion can fill it!"

6) Satisfaction: "I'm in so much pain, but I'm healthier for it" OR "I am so exhausted, but at least I'm not going to fail out."

Stay tuned for the graph version when I'm not feeling guilty about procrastinating (which can occur at all these stages in the paper timeline). I'm still at step 3, pushing step 4.

The things we do

Latest procrastination tactic:

Organizing my dresser and closet. That's right.

This morning I had loads of laundry on my bed that were waiting to be put away, but I couldn't bear to stuff them into a messy closet or rumpled dresser drawers. Now, my closet is organized with skirts on one side and shirts on the other and each side is an aesthetically pleasing gradient of colour. Underwear: sorted by comfort level. Bras: sorted by colour. Shirts: sorted by sleeve length and material. Papers: woefully incomplete.

I have an adorable cat

And I like to take adorable photos of her.

Caving to Twitter

In an effort to keep my readership up on my daily insights, I have started an account on twitter. There's a new module in the box to the right that displays micro updates from me. So you'll know when I'm on the bus and stuck in traffic. You'll know when I have random insights waiting for the metro. The goal is that when I'm out of ideas for a proper post, I can still make sure that everyone knows I'm still alive.

Feel free to ignore, if you find it's TMI, but I have so much fun stalking other people via twitter, I'm interested to see what it's like on the other side of the fence.