Things are going well this week. I’m productive and feeling happy about my work. I thought it’d be nice to make a list of nice things that are making me happy right now.
First of all, the weather is great! It’s been cold and miserable for ages (its winter, so I’d be worried if it was otherwise) and we’re currently experiencing a warm patch. This week I’ve been able to walk around outside when it’s dark without gloves, and sleep without a hot water bottle, and jump out of bed when my alarm goes off and not feel the cold stabbing sensation on my exposed skin.
I’m really looking forward to spring when this will be normal practice. And we’ll have more daylight hours so outside won’t feel so miserable. I’m much more productive when my surroundings motivate me to do something other than huddle over a heater and drink too much coffee.
Second, I saw Geert Lovink’s talk last night on social media. Not only was it great to see someone talking about things related to my own research; I actually asked a question! (I’m usually terrible at asking questions because I get self-conscious and nervous, so I just avoid the idea altogether.) The talk mostly covered issues I was already well aware of, but it was a good opportunity to find out about other groups looking into solutions to the problems I’m noticing. The Institute of Networked Cultures has recently created a group, Unlike Us, that looks to be promising!
And third, I saw an overly large chalk advertisement for a talk at my campus. It was on a busy thoroughfare that I use on the way to my bus. In huge, thick letters (that break the university rules – not that anyone cares), it asks us, ‘HAS GOD FAILED?’ Just in case we can’t read it upside-down, it’s written twice, and so are the time and location details. This doesn’t really bother me and, in fact, I think it’s quite a successful piece of attention-grabbing advertising.
What’s making me happy is that, this morning, I saw that someone else has written next to it, emulating the style perfectly, ‘HAS BETA-MAX FAILED?’
Thinking about this made me chuckle all the way to my office.
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