"Inherent Evil of Things"

When I buy appliances I always look for, and buy, the ones with the least knobs, buttons and switches. Those which only have need-to-have functions, and no fancy extras I will never use.

The more buttons there is the more likely something will go wrong. And with my luck it goes wrong when I really need something to work. In this example: to be laundered; like Monday at midnight: my kid’s soccer outfit is really dirty from Sunday’s practice, and the match is on Tuesday early afternoon. And the drum just won’t turn…. Or the electronic display says “Error 2x86zz6y”, or something, and the only thing the laundry machine is good for is rising my blood pressure to undreamt-of heights (and unveil long forgotten vocabulary).

Those are the moments when I bless my not quite absent hoarding tendencies. To find an old laundry tub (why don’t we install those big utility sinks anymore? Because we trust our machines so much? Space? Next time I am to redecorate I will plan for one of those!) and wash by hand gets the job done, without any further ado.

I guess I’m rather traditional: When laundry is washed on the right temperature, on a program for wool, silk, very dirty or just a rinse, I am happy.

I used to have a laundry machine where you could program your own progress, time, temperature (individual for each process) and speed. The number of buttons and switches was VERY impressive and the machine lit up like a Christmas tree every time I pressed start. It lit up, but it didn’t always clean my laundry. The overpriced wonder was hardly ever 100% well.

Not like a car I used to have… which was very trustworthy. When he felt like it (The car turned out to be a “he”, because only a guy can make high expectations to an imminent event crash into unrepairable dreams of happy upcoming moments. Like this car did.)

One morning it was really important I got to work early. (Some mornings I have more to prepare before class than others, and often that has something to do with a test of some sort.)

I got all the bags and the kid in the car, started up, shifted to reverce, let go of the breaks: NOTHING HAPPENED! The car did not budge at all! I don’t think I understood the car stood still… I spent minutes trying to drive, stop the engine, start again…. I had to call the auto repair shop. The owner came with a breakdown truck, looked the car over and told me one of the rear wheels was locked. It was stuck.

The owner loaded my car on the truck, gave me a lift to the kindergarden, where I got a lift from another mum. I got to work just in time… Much the same thing happened one time I was going to the theatre (didn’t get there on time at all), another time to a funeral and an exam (I had time to borrow my neighbor’s bicycle and get to the exam only a couple of minutes late, and was allowed to take it).  

Because of the car, for me the events didn’t turn out the way I planned the night before.

To use a computer: same thing.

They used to be easy to use. Now it isn’t anymore. If you want to save a document, you are asked(???!!!!!!!) how to save it, and you get options like google document, dropbox or some other external site which you have to take a stand on. Not only have you got numerous options on saving what you write (you need to remember where you stored it, though, mind you). Scrolling through files to find something involves computer, files and library… and sometimes even an external harddrive you don’t even know where is!

Now, all of this I can live with, when you have followed the electronical development for as long as I have, you know a little about what is what (except hashtags…. I have to find out about hashtags). The thing I hate about it, is that when I, for once, have prepared a brilliant lesson, either it takes me forever to find the file or the network is down. Yes, it happens. Using computers for teaching is really vulnerable since servers have a tendency to shut down when traffic is heavy. Our fun, exploring, engaging high tech teaching intentions (decreeded by government, county and school owner and expected by my boss) very often end up in reading a text in a book and answer questions. It is better than having a full class watching me become a puddle of pure distress. I have learned to always have a plan b…. and c.

It isn’t just big items which play tricks on us like that, is it? Through the day anything from burned out light bulbs, a missing shoe, keys (Either you have the wrong one, you don’t have one or you can’t make it fit…. And then, of course, someone you are a tiny bit annoyed at, for some reason, takes the key out of your hand (even more annoyed) and the key fits perfectly, which is so exasperating…. so much so, I had to look for an appropriate word to explain just how annoying that is), alarm clocks… the more updated and crucial they are in a certain setting, the more likely things will let us down and make us react in manners we never ever suspected we had in us. They bring out the worst in me, at the most inconvenient times.

I have searched for a pen still working so desperately only a smoker with nothing to light the cigarette can understand.

Being familiar with things playing tricks on me (the more fancy and modern the harder it hits), knowing very well how I react to it, and being aware of what impact it has on me; I call it the inherent evil of things.

Thoughts on work.

I am a strange person; I know this, and I have come to terms with this fact. Not strange in the sense  that people give me negative attention for my behaviour or look (although I do admit I feel comfortable even when I don`t dress up to date, and I do wear a lot more colours than what fashionistas would find appropriate. In addition I have a way of sometimes telling the truth, as I see it, even when a white lie should have been preferred and that might not be the most discrete thing to do, always...) but I think there must be something odd about how my thoughts fly, and what they find amusing pondering about.

Lately I have been wondering about work, and environment.

My grandfather used to say that when there is no more farmers, fishermen and hunters all the rich people with important, well-paid jobs, will starve because their millions can`t fill their starving stomachs.

Just recently I saw on facebook that an old Native American said the same thing!?! It must mean my grandfather was a wise man. (At least he was not the only man profoundly and deeply rooted in past knowledge to keep that thought in mind.)

It is just another one of those obvious truths you always knew, but needed someone to say out loud to really reflect upon. And then you acknowledge it IS a MATTER OF FACT... Even though it WAS always COMMON SENSE

Funny that, how basic living qualifications needs to be confirmed to be considered smart or true... or even legitimate.

Well, I grew up on a farm, in addition I know that in both chess and real life, pawns are not really considered to be important, but the way I play they are the most important ones. I am that kind of down to earth girl. That doesn`t mean I don`t have respect for a lot of other jobs, I even find a lot of them very essential, but I have to say it never cease to amaze me how and what some people do to make a living.

A few years ago a big corporation went into fusion with another corporation. Part of the deal was that the name of this huge corporation should contain both names. There were a few other conditions as well, but this was the big, new thing about this deal. Well; they spent millions and millions on changing this household name, brand and logo all over the world. When the deal had been on for like 6 months, they changed it back, spending even more money.

Now, it is kind to keep signmakers, printers, marketing consultants, graphic designers and other involved groups of professionals occupied. But I bet they kept more than one person busy, for over a year, thinking this strategy out. And I bet the soles of my shoes they were far from cheap.

When I was a kid, and we were talking about a small, isolated place with no apparent workplaces, my dad used to say: “They probably just cut each other’s hair”. Well, to be a hairdresser or a barber is a good job, and we need them, but we can’t all hang around waiting for hair to grow. Nothing much productive really happens then.

 

Whenever I come to a staffed restroom I just grin. I love it, when I know it will be clean, tidy, supplies will be at hand and there is a “Timmy Grasshopper” making sure everybody wash their hands. Going out, an inviting restroom is one of the signs I look for to identify true quality.

When travelling I have a few checkpoints which I go through to find out if the room and other facilities are clean. I really like it to be clean. Not only for the sake of cleanliness itself, but when everything is clean you know the people who own and run the place care.

Cleaning, as well as renovation, are really important jobs. I remember what Naples was like a couple of years ago. I have to admit I don’t know the situation there now, though. But it was bad!

I am very confused to why clubs and restaurants find it more important to employ hung-over kids to push unwelcome leaflets in bypassers’ hands instead of hiring them to keep their facilities clean. I never pick up on those offers. They come across as desperate attempts to keep a place open rather than anything else.

Another thing I don`t really understand is how some people can make a comfortable living giving speeches and lectures. I have to say a lot of them have never been even close to the topic they talk about and give their point of view on issues they know from books and strange research questionaires. When listening to them I always wonder if they are aware of their own distance to their topic. There are really good ones, but there are even more really bad ones.

In example: I have been to numerous lectures, conferences and seminars with no agenda other than telling the audience something we all know very well. I spent 4 hours listening to a woman who told us (us being 170 very good teachers) that in order to teach you must ask the students questions.

She forgot to tell us the most important thing about asking questions (i.e. how to ask them), but we have to always ask the students questions. I am embarrassed to say that I have not heard anything positive about this lecture. She was showing, and referring, to a powerpoint with too small print for us to read, she constantly stood with her back turned at us; talking to the screen, and when she asked us a question she answered it herself... Within a few seconds. That was the best part about her lecture: Showing us how not to teach! And to be honest, it is a good thing to be reminded of. But that was not the intention, nor was it the lecture the school had ordered.

I have also been to lectures, held by a very profiled person, who spent 6 hours telling us what a great guy he was. We fall for their (in their own circle or field of knowledge) famous names and book them, even pay them, to tell us nothing. Actually; to make us spend money doing that is quite an achievement. I should learn something from that.

On the other hand: some of the best lectures I have attended has been about truths I know very well, but needed to be reminded of, or I needed someone better than me to put the truths into well spoken words which makes people want to listen and take part.

Firefly inventors, as I call them, are really interesting. (Of course they don`t invent fireflies, but the things they do invent hardly ever last for more than (at best) a day.) They invent totally useless items, with no quality, or durability. The things they invent are just super cool!!! Until they break 3 hours later, just in time to be broken before we lose interest. And then we fall for their next invention, with even less durability, and we know about this, but it costs next to nothing, and it is tiresome to listen to kids nagging for hours because they want this bright yellow, green, blue, red, orange and/or purple supercool must-have-now thing. i.e. useless-kitchen-gadgets

Cereal boxes and cartoon magazines are full of toys like this, which have made someone rich. And those are only two examples to where we find them. They are everywhere! And we buy them… lots of them.

 

Every year, when a new schoolyear starts I give my new students a welcome speech. One of the things I tell them is: Every idiot can break a window. That is not something to be proud of, because anyone can do that. You will learn how to fix that window, not many can do that, and that is something to be proud of. In a few years you can drive through this region and point out to your child "Those houses over there are homes for families. I was part of building those homes".

We keep hearing about how we pollute the world doing everyday things. I think that if we stopped wasting time talking rubbish, and stopped wasting energy on buying rubbish (both would save us from a lot of annoyance and harsh thoughts and words), we would save both time and environment (not to mention all the money and paper). To me it strikes me as strange that work we do to support human's basic needs are so looked down on, while shuffling numbers and papers around are considered so much more valuable.