the day began with an upset phone call from a girl whose voice i didn't need to hear so early in the morning. it was a stupid misunderstanding between her and someone else and i wasn't in the mood for patching shit.
the midterm was unfortunate. it went alright (or not, haven't really a clue), except for the beginning. i registered, sat down, and got handed my paper. the first thing i did was skip to the part where we recall the poetry we had to memorize so that i wouldn't get confused later, and i was halfway through when our professor informed us that we weren't to quote a poem that was given in the exam. obviously.
what a bummer that i was the only student who'd picked a poem that did appear! i hadn't noticed (although i did get it 100%, yay me), and she said it'd be fine if i explained it... *sigh*
it's a bit unfair, really. she shouldn't have given us works from the same list.
i amused myself - and hopefully didn't damage my grade - by making a claim in my third answer that almost invalidated my second. i hope it's appreciated that i explained how it affects things and why it's not the end of the world :P
i had lunch with pg, then boarded a packed bus to work. i was in a good mood when i walked in - pornkings - up to no good was up on my playlist - but that was soon destroyed by a bug report on a system that i really don't have time for. i eventually got stuck with something that i needed help with, and i called in our predecessor... the code's so bad that it took him all of five minutes to figure out what was going on, and as usual he was terrified when i suggested re-writing it.
$500 for fixing the telly - $5 for hitting it with a hammer, $495 for knowing where to hit it: the difference between writing a good program and maintaining a bad one? it takes far more time to modify something because you spend all your time (the $495, only i'm much cheaper than that right now) double and triple-checking to make sure you haven't laid any easter eggs.
aside from a massive headache (initially caused by a combination of the aforementioned bug and the fact that the SVN has once again made our lives far too complicated), yet another bout of causing unintentional offense on a public forum (i've been told that i talk down to students who don't read their varsity mail), a calming chat with my mum and another with our kibbutz cousin, and little bit of as you like it while compiling... it's been an uneventful afternoon / evening.
i gotta start moving across to pg's tonight. it's a bit exciting, really. never lived with a girlfriend before.
as a continuation of the rant i began in big "oh, brother":
you sound like my grampa when he first heard the 'devil's music' aka rock 'n roll
because reality shows are "rock and roll".
i'm not saying it's too hardcore for me, i'm calling it pathetic. you're more than welcome to explain to me why it's not: show me the error of my ways!
otherwise, you kids get off'a my lawn!
for starters, the main idea of the show, the heart of it, is people having to spend time with people who are very much different from them, and whom they hate most of the time.
and still, we get to watch them get along, after they put their minds to it, even under the extreme pressure of the money at stake.
in the fusion-made society we live in, that lesson is damn valuable.
furthermore, the competitors' choice to enter the house seems to be easily understandable -
they want to get their personal message out to the world.
isn't that something we all wish to do?
[a friend], you demonize the desire of the small man to become famous, yet what do you strive for, when you hand out cds in the streets? are you making yourself an exception?
and about the money, he of us who wouldn't have less to worry about with one more million in the bank, let him throw the first rock.
the "getting along" notion seems a noble one, but i hardly think "getting along" and "going to get the cash, me NOT you" is the same thing. that's an implication that we're all friends with conflicting interests.
can you give me an example of a personal message? did a viewer get taught something that they could incorporate into their own lives, that wasn't a lesson about how stupid some people can be?
i don't think [a friend] was demonizing; regardless - wanting to share one's music (and make money from it) is not the same as becoming famous for fame's sake.
and if i had *any* problem with the monetary incentive, i wouldn't have gone to the casting for beauty and the geek. i'm not actually slamming the participants, i'm complaining about everyone and their mother (literally) who watches these shows.
are we discussing what's visible on screen? you never see anyone expressing aggressive emotions.
like in the real world, they learn to keep them sealed tight inside.
on the screen you never see anyone stepping on anyone else to get the gold. that's survivor.
well. i have watched just one episode, but in that one episode something interesting happened. long story short, a strong woman freed herself from an abusive (though loving) boyfriend.
that had a strong message. where else can teenage kids get a model for how relationships should and shouldn't be?
especially now days, when the percentage of kids being raised by single parents is the highest israel has ever seen.
and another thing, how stupid people can is a very important lesson. i wish i'd have learned it sooner myself.
well, that depends on what came first, the music or the desire for acknowledgement.
about beauty and the geek-
saying someone is suffering from asperger's syndrome is like drawing a line somewhere along the spectrum, and saying, anyone with this level of social capability or less is disabled. it's arbitrary. there is no clear border between "normal" and autistic. i don't see how making fun of someone that's naturally stupid is in any way better.
hmm?
i'm a firm believer that the only thing wrong with single parents is that they (usually) struggle more to make ends meet.
television is as good a place as any to learn the right values, but i hardly think reality television in particular is a good source. i'm also sure that for every positive example you can give me, there's at least one negative one to offset it...
yeah, you're probably right.
it was extremely hard trying to make that abomination look good.
i get tremors when i think about children actually watching that crap and learning something from it.
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