blank page was all the rage
Too often do I open to this page with thoughts in mind, become distracted by other tabs, and end up forgetting about this site. It is mistake that ought to be remedied. On that note, I recently read that depressed people (such as myself, clearly) over use first person pronouns. Hence any reader of this journal be it the casual bop-in or a genuine peruser (peruse actually means something to the effect of "to read thoroughly"; but don't take my word for it, google and one can realise the misinformation being perpetuated) will quickly note that overusage. In an attempt to ameliorate the situation, the passive voice is often being employed, as well as other syntactic variations to switch from "I" to "me" or "my" or to at least shift the "I" to somewhere in the middle of the sentence. That has not worked, as it merely shifts the same problem.
The problem shouldn't be shifted; the problem should be solved.
A recurrent theme of the past month or so has been housecleaning. Once more, even the casual observer may note that this housecleaning has been literal and metaphoric. On the latter part, there is currently more failure than success. The former is working splendidly. By all outside appearances, everything is better.
The outside is not enough, however. The cleaning must become reality within, if I am to so survive. Recently, a discussion about this topic (though not couched in these terms and metaphors) came up. My general discussion of the issue is as a process; the friend disagreed and felt it should be an action.
The matter was addressed on twitter this morning. 2011 was meant to a year dedicated to being more linguistically/language orientated; somehow in the middle, 2011 became a year of verbs, of actions.
2012 will continue the verbal aspect. More action is needed (such as simply being nice to people) but therein lies the issue, the semantic shift and my argument for the process notion --"being nice to people" derives from the "verb"(al phrase) "to be nice." By using the verb to be (I believe this is the copula, but I could be wrong) is the point --it is a state of being. I read earlier this year in an essay by the historian Isaiah Berlin that though we may be innately born with certain characteristics and though we may have habits that are not part of our natural inclinations, we can work diligently to make them appear that way, to make them appear natural.
Therein lies the problem: appearance versus reality.
But there is a bigger issue: who the fuck cares about classes of verbs and pretentious verbal diarrhea? No one. As one of the chairs at a meeting says: keep your share down to 3 to 5 minutes; anything more than that, and you are speaking to an audience of one, yourself.
I need to stop talking to myself and start talking to others.
The problem shouldn't be shifted; the problem should be solved.
A recurrent theme of the past month or so has been housecleaning. Once more, even the casual observer may note that this housecleaning has been literal and metaphoric. On the latter part, there is currently more failure than success. The former is working splendidly. By all outside appearances, everything is better.
The outside is not enough, however. The cleaning must become reality within, if I am to so survive. Recently, a discussion about this topic (though not couched in these terms and metaphors) came up. My general discussion of the issue is as a process; the friend disagreed and felt it should be an action.
The matter was addressed on twitter this morning. 2011 was meant to a year dedicated to being more linguistically/language orientated; somehow in the middle, 2011 became a year of verbs, of actions.
2012 will continue the verbal aspect. More action is needed (such as simply being nice to people) but therein lies the issue, the semantic shift and my argument for the process notion --"being nice to people" derives from the "verb"(al phrase) "to be nice." By using the verb to be (I believe this is the copula, but I could be wrong) is the point --it is a state of being. I read earlier this year in an essay by the historian Isaiah Berlin that though we may be innately born with certain characteristics and though we may have habits that are not part of our natural inclinations, we can work diligently to make them appear that way, to make them appear natural.
Therein lies the problem: appearance versus reality.
But there is a bigger issue: who the fuck cares about classes of verbs and pretentious verbal diarrhea? No one. As one of the chairs at a meeting says: keep your share down to 3 to 5 minutes; anything more than that, and you are speaking to an audience of one, yourself.
I need to stop talking to myself and start talking to others.