(no subject)
I’m not getting round to putting much in here. Nothing major/ witty or whatever’s happening, but I’m quite busy. I think I’m going to be madly busy over the next month. I need to tidy a vile pile of paper before that all comes upon me. Meantime, some random reassurance of my worth. This is for me, after all.
I made a rare visit to a University shared computer room today, to avail myself of software which my own computer no longer seems to want to run (if anyone can get me current licence codes for SPSS I’ll love you for ever). On the monitor next to me, a pharmacy student’s project poster looked very familiar. After a while, I had to comment, ‘I once did a little bit of work on that system.’
‘Really,’ he asked ‘how come?’
‘Oh, I used to work in The Good Professor’s lab. I did a little bit of work helping set it up.’
‘Wait a minute: you’re not Silver are you? My brother told me all about you. You helped him with his masters project a couple of years ago.’
‘Your brother’s Kam? And he even mentioned my name to you?’
‘Yer; he said you were really helpful and taught him lots.’
I helped him tweak his project poster, and told him he really should consider the size of molecular weight filters he used in relation to the ligands’ molecular weight and a few other tips before he presents on Friday.
It’s nice to know you’ve had a positive impact somewhere down the line. Kam was a good student.
Separately
I’m worried about a friend’s relationship with her son. She is too harsh on him. I said something, but she can rationalise what she’s doing so well. She is very quick witted and far more eloquent over such things than me. He looks so sad, and she blames her unhappiness on him. And the sadder he is the more he’s going to be late for school and do computer games instead of homework. And the more she’s going to say to him, ‘You’re making me unhappy, because you’re not doing what I want.’
It’s really hard for me to explain it to her, but the subtext of the language she uses to him is all about her, whereas when she explains it to me, she presents it in terms of her providing everything he could want, and the sacrifices she makes. I don’t think he dare say what he really wants. Being a single parent must be shit: it brings out the worst in one. Being a child of such a single parent is hell.
(I’m not sure I should put that in here, as it breaks one of my rules of LJing, but it bothers me. I’ve told him he’s got a refuge at my place if needs be, but I know he’d never take it.)