Monday, March 07, 2005

Thrilling...

I am not alone. I just (whilst procrastinating in a less on-topic way than I am now) ran across an online historiographical debate between different history professors in the United States. I started at Blogenspiel and ended up at the History News Network, and especially Cliopatra. Oh my, there is some bitter debating over objectivity in historiography, and about the usage of context in reading historical documents. Thrilling. (I'm such a nerd. It's so exciting, my heart is racing. Or maybe that's the espresso.) Those are some hard arguments, as a result of the clash between modernism and post-modernism in history (we don't always know exactly what to do with post-modernism in history). Do you just accept that everyone has bias and write from a really specific bias? Do you seek to compensate for your personal bias, and attempt to be objective? I had a debate with another student, way back in my honour's level historiography class. The debate ended up taking up the entire night class, and my poor prof was so excited about it that she couldn't sleep afterward. At the time, I was very idealistic and I believed that we should attempt to work against our biases. Now... I'm evaluating things. But, to sum up: I found literate people on the internet! They don't "lurve" things, or laugh as "lol."

I am wearing: Chat Noir t-shirt, layered over a white long-sleeved shirt, with new jeans.

My weekend: was lovely. I got to see my friend Tina for the first time in two years (she's from North Carolina). Much good talking happened, along with plenty of silliness. And I bought a Batgirl Barbie and a pink trenchcoat. Oh, the girliness. And I re-watched Napoleon Dynamite. It was even better in the second watching.

Tomorrow: I do more work, and at 10:30 am I get together for coffee with a girl who came out to my Girls' Group a couple of weeks ago. We're both in the northwest boonies of the city, and so we're going to meet in the North end. Hooray! Usually I have to trek all the way across the city.

Surprise of the Day: There's a giant snowman on my balcony! Meg and Karl built it during a study break on the weekend. Apparently, it's the hit of the apartment complex.

Coffee Creation of the Day: Iced espresso, with milk and both caramel and hazelnut syrup. I recommend.

Question of the Day: (I already posed this one to my Girls' Group) What do you do to manage stress? And, conversely, what happens when you're not managing stress?

My Answer: When I'm not managing stress well, messiness happens all over my house, and I can't seem to justify cooking for myself. I end up living on coffee beverages and pretzel/popcorn/jell-o variety substances. Bad. Oh, and I fall into really bad avoidance patterns. When I choose to manage stress better, I eat fruit and drink water and tea. I try to organise my work space, and find ways to make it less stressful (such as candles and music). I do yoga on my breaks, to manage to muscle pain from sitting for so long. And I crazy up the roommate, if that's not already painfully apparent. Oh, and sometimes I wear costumes while I work. And set up Playmobil figures on my desk, such as "Ghost of Hamlet's Father" and "Robin Hood." (My own names for what they so obviously are. "Spirit"? Bah.) And now I'm also trying to do my devotions and pray more regularly, which helps.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

To deal with stress, I eat chocolate, drink slurpees, avoid homework, hang out with friends, and then start suffering from panic attacks because I've put off all the work I have to do. It's a great system. It works for me. Except that I am shortly going to end up in an insane asylum.

arimich said...

You have enough snow on your balcony to build a giant snowman? That's crazy! When I'm not dealing with stress, I make myself busy avoiding what I really need to get done by doing things that aren't useful until I tire myself out. Then I have a bigger problem and less time to deal with it. It's easier to deal with stress when I make myself super organized and have someone to talk to about things. People are good. Especially Maryannes. She's cool.