On Friday it was hard to concentrate so I updated my desktop using a blue marker and Gimp.

Dippy desktop

Today Plinky asks me, ‘What keeps you up at night?’

It’s the mundane, really. These days, I don’t worry about global crises and whether or not I’m making an impact. (Well, I’ve stopped worried about it regularly anyway.)

Still, it’s worry that keeps me up, rather than excitement or ideas. I know people whose brains buzz with such interesting thoughts that they can’t get to sleep. That’s not me. No, I’m afraid my mental resources are lower.

I’ll struggle to sleep if I’m very worried about deadlines.  This week I have four deadlines. I began the week with one. Once again, I’ve taken on too much. It’s so easy to overshoot.

I often console myself with ‘At least I’m interested in all this work I’m doing.’ It’s true. I’d rather be stressed and stimulated by the work, than stressed and bored.

Another thing that keeps me up, but which happens infrequently, is when I’ve offended someone. When I think that someone is unhappy with me, I mull over it almost obsessively. It’s all I can do to not throw myself at his or her feet and apologise, even if I’m not sure what I should be apologising for.

Today, I will sleep easy. Today, there is nothing to worry about.

I haven’t been paid by Specsavers to advertise for them. However, it is relevant to this post to say that I am delighted that I was able to get two new pairs of glasses for £69 (AUD122).

The one good thing about the simultaneous crash in the British Pound and the rise of the Australia Dollar is that it is now cheaper to buy things here in the UK than during my annual visits to Melbourne.

I’ve been walking around wearing either my sleek red glasses, or my chunky caramel slice glasses. Sometimes, the sides of my head would hurt. I started thinking I would have to go back to the store to get my glasses loosened. Obviously, my head was being squeezed like I had a koala wrapped around it.

After a few days, though, I realised that actually my head was scrambling to cope with an explosion of stimulation. I can now see further ahead and more details. It was this cubic growth of information was that was hurting my head.

Thankfully, the pain was temporary. I seem to have adjusted and now I miss the extra information whenever I am not wearing my new glasses.

My new caramel slice glasses. I’ll try to get a photo of me wearing my sleek red glasses.

Damjan’s sister Jana is thinking about how she can develop her career in the next couple of years. This reminded me of a a book called the Job Guide, which I used when I was 17 years old. Back in the day, I went through every single of the hundreds of job descriptions in the book, crossing out the jobs that didn’t appeal to me and highlighting the ones that might be okay.

I used it to confirm that I wouldn’t mind being an environmental engineer. Following this, I put in my application to the environmental engineering undergraduate course.

Having been reminded of this great resource, I wondered if it was still be published by the Australian Government. Indeed it is, and you can find it a handy new searchable e-version here.

The description of ‘environmental engineer‘ hasn’t changed from what I remember. It begins:

Environmental engineers are concerned with assessing and managing the effects of human and other activity on the natural and built environment. They apply their engineering knowledge and skills to such things as environmental impact assessment, natural resources management and pollution control…

Although this is the job I started out doing, I can’t say this is what I’m doing anymore. I spent some time looking through the Job Guide 2009, trying to find a description that matched my present job. There was no ‘sustainability engineer’ or ‘sustainability consultant’ or ‘consultant’. Is my job too new, too niche?

But finally, I found it in a unexpected place. My work matches closely to that described for an ‘urban and regional planner‘. In fact, the match is rather uncanny, considering I never studied urban planning.

Urban and regional planners develop policies and plans for the use of land and resources. They advise on the economic, environmental, social and cultural needs of particular localities or regions.

They also work on large-scale projects such as new suburbs, towns, industrial areas, commercial and retail developments, urban renewal projects and transportation links…

Planners work closely with professionals in other fields (e.g. surveying, architecture, engineering, environment and conservation, property development, community services and transport planning). There is a high level of public contact as planners spend a lot of time in meetings and discussions. Time is also spent on field visits, writing reports and performing research. Planners are also required to prepare documentation of decisions for independent review and are often called upon to appear as expert witnesses before appeal hearings.

That’s pretty much it exactly. I suppose I shouldn’t be too surprised, considering my department at work  is called ‘Planning Plus’.

Once again, I’ve had one of those revelations that are so fundamental that I can’t believe I did not know this. It’s like that time I found out that people eat when they’re hungry.

Damjan tells me that sometimes, especially at meetings, during dull conversations and at classical music concerts, he starts to daydream. By daydreaming, he means that without realising it, he loses concentration and thinks about something else.

I don’t think I do this. When I’m bored, I usually have to decide to think about something else. My mind doesn’t free float easily.

In fact, I find it very difficult to fill my mind with undirected thoughts. I hate having an empty mind. When I eat breakfast or brush my teeth, I usually carry around a magazine just so that I can avoid generating thoughts, which is kind of tiring. Five minutes without some kind of external stimulation is dull for me. When I walk to work, I am listening to a pod cast. If not, it’s because I have an agenda such as mentally planning my day. And when I’ve finished mentally planning then I think, ‘Okay, now what do I think about?’

This also means that when people are talking to me, I am really, really listening. I thought everyone was listening too. But I believe Damjan, now that he tells me that often people are only pretending to listen or have switched off without realising it.

How very odd! And I think it’s me who is the odd one. And maybe this is why I don’t doodle or fidget, and why I’m organised but not creative.

I have five ‘first tier friends’. I’ve known this for a few years now. Sometimes, I am unwise enough to say aloud who they are but those people who aren’t first tier friends generally know this. I think it’s very rare that someone would consider you a first tier friend, while you think of them as a second tier friend.

Here is an interesting article from BBC Magazine — What’s the ideal number of friends? The article posits that the maximum number of ‘core’ or ‘Premier League’ friends a person has is between six and twelve.

This is funny:

‘A newspaper columnist once told of her shock when, having struck up a rapport with a man over dinner, she was told at the end of the meal he had no vacancies for friends. He was operating a “one-in, one-out” policy. Six months later she received a card stating he was now available for friendship.’

I will add one more feature to this theory of friendship. Like the United Nations Security Council, there are five permanent members of my first tier and one or two rotating members. At any one time, I feel close to a person that I am usually spending a lot of time with. These days, it’s often a work mate.

It may not be obvious at the time that this person is not a permament first tier friend but rather a rotating one.

Right now, though, this post is vacant. Apply within.

In the past, I’ve written about how terrified the seven year old Joan was of tag games. I have grown up a bit such that being tagged by misscipher is not scary, but is in fact a useful prompt for self reflection.

10 things I love

1. Dancing to songs with a rhythm so clear and catchy that I can’t not move
2. Going to restaurants with my mum, dad and brother
3. People at work telling me that they appreciate what I do
4. Mangoes in summer
5. Blogging
6. Taking photos, making them look nice, then sharing them with other people
7. Reading fantasy and science fiction books
8. Having a personal project, like setting up a new blog and researching to buy a gadget
9. Challenging and interesting discussions with Damjan
10. Food and farmers’ markets

Only 10 allowed? I can think of a few more.

10 things I don’t like

1. Myself when I forget that I don’t know everything
2. People who use their cameras and/or camera flashes in museums, churches, aquariums, on the London Eye (this enrages me)
3. The idea that climate change and energy is the only or most important sustainability issue
4. People who avoid their responsibility to deal with unpleasant or difficult situations
5. Savoury drinks
6. Certain foods that feel slippery in my mouth
7. Unshakable faith in the sanctity of markets
8. People who don’t try to see things from other people’s point of view
9. Living on a main street, where the noise of cars, motorcycles, trucks and emergency vehicles make it hard to sleep
10. Jogging and running

5 random things

1. Following the relative success of my chocolate ban, I am now two weeks into a ‘crisp and chip’ ban.
2. For three years, I kept a daily journal because I felt like it was the ‘right’ thing to do. It was only in my fourth year that I started to look forward to writing in it. I am now in my seventh year.
3. I used to think that I would be happy enough living in a rented house. Now that I’ve lived in three flatshares in three years, I am really looking forward to buying a home and making it my own.
4. There are 136 websites in my Bloglines RSS reader.
5. I am going to Mauritius next week to see my best friend Kate (who taught me how to chew gum) get married to Avi.

I tag…

• Yap
• Cobi
• Kaye

One of my projects at work is to produce a film introducing the concept of sustainability to all the engineers, scientists, designers, project managers and support staff in my company. As usual, it’s a rush job — why do people leave things to the last minute?

I think we’ve done a pretty good job in putting together a script for the film. Four different bosses have laid down the law on what the film should say. Crafting something that will satisfy  four executive directors… It’s tricky but we managed.

I sent the final draft script to the film unit . The film unit is part of our company’s corporate communications department. Their job is to turn the script and our ideas into a coherent all-singing all-dancing message.

*Bing!*

The sound announces the arrival of an email in my inbox. It’s from Ben, the head of film.

‘As promised,’ Ben says, ‘here is the edited script. ‘We trimmed it down to fit ten minutes and changed the order of some of the ideas. Could you have a look? If it’s okay, we’ll start to put the film together.’

The attached Word document is covered in the red of track changes.

As I read through Ben’s version of the script, my heart sinks.

‘Did you see the script?’ Amanda says as she walks past my desk. Amanda is the project manager for the film.

‘Yes,’ I reply.

I have trouble with my next sentences. Amanda waits.

‘There’s nothing wrong with Ben’s changes,’ I say at last. ‘In fact, they’re really great. He didn’t change any ideas… he just made it all simpler, less formal. But not casual, either.’

Amanda nodded. ‘I thought so too. You and I, we both try to avoid jargon, but we forget how much we write in ‘report speak’.’

‘Look at this!’ I lamented. ‘I had written, “The company’s regions and sectors have each developed their own sustainability strategies to implement the objectives of the sustainability policy”. And what did Ben write? “The different parts of the company have strategies to tackle the goals of our sustainability policy…” Why didn’t I just say that? It’s so obvious now. ‘

I yowl in anguish. ‘I thought I was good at writing! But I do ‘report speak’! I don’t want to ‘report speak’!’

Amanda laughed, ‘Don’t worry, Joan. It’s his job. Corporate comms are professional communicators. You know, Ben couldn’t calculate a carbon footprint like you can.’

For me, washing dishes is meditative. As I wash the dishes, I am also flushing away all my worries. Also, dishwashing is exciting — SUDS, water water water, CLEAN! It’s like magic.

The day after moving into my Cambridge home, my housemate Di exclaimed, ‘Joan, you’re so funny! What are the marigolds for?’

‘Marigolds?’ What was she she was talking about?

Di pointed to the new yellow dishwashing gloves that I had just hung over the kitchen sink. ‘That’s what we call kitchen gloves in the US.’

I had bought the gloves on my first trip to the supermarket. Gloves are an important aid to my dishwashing habit.

‘Why are they called marigolds?’ I asked.

‘Oh, I think it’s a brand name,’ Di said.

Interesting. What was it about Marigold gloves that had turned the brand into a generic noun? (*)

The next time I was in the kitchen section of the store, I noticed the hanging rack of Marigold kitchen gloves. I wanted to try them out but I hesitated. They were more than four times the cost of the basic brand of gloves I had bought (£1.25 compared to £0.30 a pair). Could Marigolds really be that special?

I shrugged and picked out a small yellow pair to put in my shopping basket.

I have now been buying Marigolds for all my dishwashing needs for two years. They really are the best ever dishwashing gloves. Lined with flocked cotton, Marigolds feel so nice when I put them on. They also last a lot longer than the basic gloves.

In conclusion, Marigolds make dishwashing even more enjoyable.

(*) Other brands-turned-generic-nouns/verbs include:

• ‘Gladwrap’ for ‘cling film’ (Australia)
• ‘Hoover’ for ‘vacuum cleaner’ (UK)
• ‘Xerox’ for ‘photocopier’ (USA)
• ‘Kleenex’ for ’tissue’ (USA)
• ‘Fedex’ for ‘courier’ (USA)
• ‘Ramen’ for ‘instant noodles’ (USA)
• ‘Tivo’ for ‘hard disk recorder’ (USA… can someone confirm this?)
• ‘Rollerblade’ for the noun ‘in line skates’ (international?)
• ‘Photoshop’ for ‘Digital image editing’ (international?)
• ‘PowerPoint’ for ‘computer presentation slides’ (international?)
• (defunct?) ‘Walkman’ for ‘portable casette player’ (international)
• (emerging) ‘Google‘ for ‘web search’ (international?)

Goodness! Of course I should have expected it — people have written about this topic already. See Wikipedia — Genericized trademark, and a slideshow on AOL — Brand Icons That Made a ‘Name’ for Themselves (a bit US-centric but I didn’t know jacuzzi was a name brand!).

Other suggestions welcome, especially for Australia (I suspect ‘esky’ is one of these).

And why does it seem that the US is prone to turning brand names into generic labels? This is also interesting — examples from other languages and countries.

While cooking my week’s worth of food this evening, I listened to a programme on BBC’s Radio 4 about the games that kids play. It reminded me of the things I used to do to while away play lunch, lunch time, and after school. What games did you play?

Prep
I can’t remember a single game I played in Prep.

Grade 1
I think roleplay games were pretty big. I remember playing ‘mothers and fathers’. Back in grade 1, everyone wanted to play a mother or father. For some reason, as we got older (grades 2 and 3), we tended to want to play the baby.

I definitely remember playing tiggy, which I felt to be a terrifying game. Being chased made my heart beat in fear, not just exertion. Then there was the feeling of resignation when I got tigged (or ‘tagged’). It would always take me a long time to tig someone else because back then I was a slow runner.

As a variation on tiggy, I remember being swept up in about a week of ‘bum tiggy’. Some kid decided that tiggy would be improved if the aim was to whack people on their backsides. This indignity, combined with my general fear of tiggy, caused me to rebel and I sat on a bench to thwart anyone who would want to tig my bottom.

One of my favourite games in Grade 1 was ‘statues’. The music goes on, everyone dances, the music stops, then you freeze. Someone goes around and if he or she detects you moving, you’re out.

I loved statues. There wasn’t the panic of tiggy, and I liked dancing.

I think I also played with the monkey bars. I remember falling off the top level of the monkey bars and hitting the bark-covered ground head first.

Grade 2
Two words: clapping games. The girls went a bit crazy with clapping games that year. You know the ones I mean, right? You recite ditties and clapped hands with a partner (and sometimes, even two partners, if you could form a ring of clapping people). The more complicated the clapping sequence, the more prestigious. I remember being taught some of these. I think I caught on pretty quickly.

Grade 2 was also the first wave of marble mania. ‘Marble season’, as it was called, seemed to come every year or second year. I found marbles to be quite a distressing game. I hated losing my marbles, so I engaged only in the collecting and trading activities of marble season.

I think there was a skipping season in Grade 2 (and this reoccurred in Grade 5). We favoured the big skipping ropes, one girl at each end and people timing their entry and exit into the looping vortex. Actually, boys played with us too. Skipping seems to have enough of a physical activity component so that boys enjoy it too.

Grade 3
Grade 3 was my favourite year of school and play. We had a teacher, Miss Kingman, who would bring our games into the classroom, and would take the classroom to our games. I spent a lot of time in Grade 3 making sand cakes. There was a sand pit at the end of the primary school and we would make three tier sand cakes (no castles). After play lunch or lunch break, Miss Kingman would take the whole class down to the sand pit to see what people had made.

When marble season came back again in Grade 3, I was making ‘marble traps’, which were hidden tunnels designed to capture marbles. I would come back to my trap at the end of the lunch session to see if there were any marbles. There never were.

The other thing we played was ‘Space Jump‘, which is actually a sophisticated improv game that adults play. For those who don’t know it, the game master sets a topic. The first person comes on to role play that topic. Then the game master shouts ‘Space Jump!’ and the next person comes it, picks up on the first person’s position and pose and completely changes the topic. The first person has to fit right into the second person’s scenario. Then another ‘Space Jump!’ is shouted, and a third person goes in. This is repeated for the fourth person.

After the fourth person, the whole thing unravels. After ‘Space Jump!’, the fourth person leaves, and everyone goes back to the third scenario. This is repeated until only the original person in the original scenario is left.

Thinking back, as kids, I think we were amazingly inventive and brave. Everyone played, no one was self conscious. We played in class, we played outside class. It was my all time favourite game.

Grade 4
As I remember, Grade 4 was dominated by two games: 40-40 and elastics. 40-40 is a variation of hide and seek, where the aim is to return to base before someone spotted you and yelled ’40-40, I see Joan!’ I really liked this game. It wasn’t scary like tiggy.

Elastics were more fun than skipping. I remember being quite good at it. I also remember mum making me my own equipment with with elastic from her sewing kit. Thanks mum!

Grade 5
Besides the return of skipping season, I think Grade 5 was the first time we started playing ‘two square’ and ‘four square’. Two square is like playing tennis but with your hand as the tennis racquet. There were two options: you could play ‘on the full’ (the you had to hit the ball straight to your opponent’s square like in tennis) or with a bounce (like table tennis, you hit the ball into your own side before it bounces into your opponents).

Four square is similar with the added nomenclature of rankings: king, queen, jack and dunce, where the aim is to move from dunce up to king.

Damjan just reminded me of a game he calls ‘downball’. At our school, we played ‘deadshot’. For us, the difference was that downball used a larger ball like a basketball and deadshot used a tennis ball. We bounced the tennis ball on the ground, then a wall, before someone caught it. I can’t remember who was meant to catch it. Did it go in a sequence of people? (i.e. did I have to catch it on my ‘turn’?)

Regardless, I remember being surprised that I wasn’t bad at this game. It seems that in Grade 5, my physical prowess improved a lot. I could suddenly keep up running with my class mates, I did the 3 km fun run quite easily, and I could catch a ball.

Grade 6
I noticed that as we grew older, we played fewer and fewer active games and spent more time sitting around chatting during play time. I think Grade 6 was the start of this trend. Certainly, in high school, we only sometimes played two square, four square and dead shot, and spent more time gossiping. Later, breaks were spent working and being in the debating club. Others played Magic, chess, did choir… I’m not sure what the non-nerds did.