Tuesday 19 March 2013

Day 104: Speaking of spillage...some pontwitterficating

Avoiding spillage while
pontwitterficating
Day 104 (19 Mar) Tuesday, week 4 in academic calendar time. It is funny how we lose track of 'dates' in the academic semester and identify days in terms of weeks...assignments are due 'Friday, week 6' or 'Monday, week 10'. I'm undecided whether or not that is a good or bad thing. 

All I sense this morning is that the semester is well underway and the week after next is the Easter break and then we're in week 6...and...

A semester at uni these days is a couple of weeks shorter than when I was a student. Turnaround times for assessment have been squeezed through a time machine as well and everything seems to be rushed, constantly. Some subjects are best left in a slow cooker. The ones I teach do take time. I shudder at the thought of teaching a 'summer' subject, the history of Japan in three weeks? Democratic process in ten days? I think I'm tripping into nostalgia. 

Those of us interested in politics, and living in the seat of Griffith, sense the electricity and tension all around. Twitter has been alive to the sound of a spill...does Kevin have the numbers? Will he challenge or be drafted? Will Julia withstand the challenge? I love my politics but please people, can we just stop this, please? Politics is not a popularity contest. There is an election scheduled for 14 September, let's just leave it until then and let the people decide...let's try just a little old-fashioned democracy by the people for the people. 

Feeding the wildlife,
at 6.12am
Not that the lorikeets have an issue with democratic process. At 6.12am they squawked and they did receive. I hadn't delivered for a few days so I think they were pleased. What they leave, the possums pick up later... 

One can never anticipate what will come up in the course of a day  so sometimes one best laid plans, etc. 

Potential spillage in the office, at 6.12pm
I can't quite come at closing the door completely, but sometimes I think I should be brave to get my work done. Is it any wonder I find myself still in the office at 6.12pm and although I didn't realise at the time, this is actually the last time this particular bookshelf looked like this. An hour later, I had configured another bookshelf and transferred some books. It will turn up as a variation on the office theme at some point I expect. 

So most of us will be retiring tonight while somewhere in our politiverse, numbers are probably being tallied. We really don't need this right now. Spillage needs to be minimised. We need to use our time carefully. 


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