Cold hands... yours too
What is this "games" thing that is happening? I went away from looking at actual content on LJ, but thanks to the tomfoolery that has happened on the various Gawker sites (I was pretty much living on Jezebel for a while), I'm back!
I actually looked at the LJ homepage for the first time in a few months and realized how cluttered it has become. I remember when I first joined, yonks ago, and there was barely anything there. Now there's the inspiration box, weird animations you can buy for your friends (I don't get this, why don't people just copy/paste gifs like before?), the terrifying games bar, and the journal spotlight. The last one I do like, but it works less than superbly as I tend to get excited about the comms, join, and then promptly forget about them a day later. This is less a condemnation of the spotlight box than an acknowledgment of my poor attention span.
I'm in the market for new blogs to read. I've found the Hairpin/Awl/Sidesplitter family, and that might do to replace Gawker. However, there aren't nearly enough commenters or daily posts to keep me fully occupied at work. This is a problem.
I started reading Neil Gaiman's blog again, and I can't believe I ever stopped. Every entry has at least one video, or link, or fun anecdote that inspires me in some way. Also, I love reading about his and Amanda Palmer's adventures. They are the best couple ever. I want to live in their attic.
Work is strange right now, I'm transitioning between departments but don't have a place in the new department. So I'm still sitting at my old desk with my old coworkers and doing my old job. I don't quite know how I feel about this. We just came back from a loooong vacation (3 weeks for Chinese New Year) and it's nice to have familiarity. On the other hand, I really wanted to start this new job, and I can't do it well if I'm not in the right room with everyone else.
Also work-related. I'm worried about the girl I'm tutoring. Her mother is paying me to get her into a prestigious London boarding school, and I'm doing my damndest to help her pass the test. BUT! That's not the hard part. She's a bright girl, picks up on facts easily. She has trouble retaining them, but we're working on that. My problem is getting her to think deeply... about anything. We can read a thought-provoking (in my mind at least) story and go through it so that she answers the content questions I ask her. But when I ask her to delve a little deeply, think through the motivations of the characters or the consequences of actions in the plot, and she draws a blank. She has trouble putting herself in the shoes of the characters and understanding the emotional or political context of a story.
Granted, she is ten. Am I wrong in pushing her to care? Bah, I thought writing this out would help me to clear my mind, maybe think of a solution, but it's not happened yet. Well, work in progress.
I actually looked at the LJ homepage for the first time in a few months and realized how cluttered it has become. I remember when I first joined, yonks ago, and there was barely anything there. Now there's the inspiration box, weird animations you can buy for your friends (I don't get this, why don't people just copy/paste gifs like before?), the terrifying games bar, and the journal spotlight. The last one I do like, but it works less than superbly as I tend to get excited about the comms, join, and then promptly forget about them a day later. This is less a condemnation of the spotlight box than an acknowledgment of my poor attention span.
I'm in the market for new blogs to read. I've found the Hairpin/Awl/Sidesplitter family, and that might do to replace Gawker. However, there aren't nearly enough commenters or daily posts to keep me fully occupied at work. This is a problem.
I started reading Neil Gaiman's blog again, and I can't believe I ever stopped. Every entry has at least one video, or link, or fun anecdote that inspires me in some way. Also, I love reading about his and Amanda Palmer's adventures. They are the best couple ever. I want to live in their attic.
Work is strange right now, I'm transitioning between departments but don't have a place in the new department. So I'm still sitting at my old desk with my old coworkers and doing my old job. I don't quite know how I feel about this. We just came back from a loooong vacation (3 weeks for Chinese New Year) and it's nice to have familiarity. On the other hand, I really wanted to start this new job, and I can't do it well if I'm not in the right room with everyone else.
Also work-related. I'm worried about the girl I'm tutoring. Her mother is paying me to get her into a prestigious London boarding school, and I'm doing my damndest to help her pass the test. BUT! That's not the hard part. She's a bright girl, picks up on facts easily. She has trouble retaining them, but we're working on that. My problem is getting her to think deeply... about anything. We can read a thought-provoking (in my mind at least) story and go through it so that she answers the content questions I ask her. But when I ask her to delve a little deeply, think through the motivations of the characters or the consequences of actions in the plot, and she draws a blank. She has trouble putting herself in the shoes of the characters and understanding the emotional or political context of a story.
Granted, she is ten. Am I wrong in pushing her to care? Bah, I thought writing this out would help me to clear my mind, maybe think of a solution, but it's not happened yet. Well, work in progress.