Entry 48: Ticking Away the Moments that Make Up a Dull Day

In writing the title of this entry I was a little unsure as to what to capitalize and what not to capitalize. (Does “up” get capitalized? Is it different if I’m quoting something?) It made me realize that the convention of not capitalizing certain words in titles is a weird one. Why not just capitalize everything? What’s the worry? (We can’t live in a society where people write “The” instead of “the” in titles!) I’m guessing there was a practical reason for this back in the day, like capital letters cost more to print, so you had to save them for important words. You couldn’t waste the extra needle-points of ink on such banal words as “the”s and “that”s – something along those lines. Now, who cares, right? I guess, that’s the beauty of having a blog you can write it how you want it. I try to be consistent and follow conventions, only in so far as, it will be distracting and/or irritating to the reader if I don’t. Also, I would prefer to not look like a dumbass by miss using words. Beyond that, I just use my best judgment, and don’t get too caught up in grammar rules.

I came up with the title because I spent the last few hours poring over this essay I found online explaining in a “definitive” manner how Tony Soprano was murdered in the series ending scene of The Sopranos. It was quite interesting at first, but went on way too long (I hardly put a dent in it), and started repeating itself too frequently, so I abandoned ship. I began reading at about 10am, then next thing I knew it was noon. “The time just ticked by,” I thought, which brought to mind the lyrics from Pink Floyd’s Time that I’ve co-opted for the title of this entry.

So the Super Bowl is coming up. It’s nice living Down Under. I’ll still be able to watch the game and I’m not hit over the head with the hype. As a sports fan, you have to work to separate the wheat from the chaff in the media these days. It’s not always easy, because although the wheat is becoming more abundant with new forums like blogs and podcasts, so is the chaff, and it seems to be growing at a faster rate than the wheat. 98% of Super Bowl Week coverage is chaff, so it’s mostly easier to just avoid the coverage altogether than to dig through it for the 2% of wheat.

Speaking of good sports coverage, I think some of my friends and I will be starting a sports website here very soon. One of my friends is good at building websites, another one is good at online search optimization, and I’m a talented writer and sports commentator, so it seems like a nice fit. I’m mostly joking about the last comment. I don’t know if I’m good or not, and if the site will be good or not, but we might as well give it a shot. (Actually, it’s technically already up, but the only thing on it is an unfinished article my friend wrote.)

I love doing stuff like this – being creative. At almost no point during my life have I not had some sort of project going on to occupy my free time. Most of the time nobody ever sees it (I have boxes and boxes and disks and disks full of things I’ve put significant time and effort into that nobody other than me will ever care about), sometimes a handful of people see it (this blog and others I’ve had in the past), and occasionally lots of people see it (my published crossword puzzles). The latter is the best result by far, obviously. It’s the most rewarding, but the process isn’t always the most enjoyable. And it’s the process that’s the main driver. Don’t get me wrong, I want an audience and I want to be appreciated, but it’s not the be all end all. If, at the end of the day, I enjoyed working on something and created a product that I like then that at least provides some consolation.

My favorite teacher as an undergrad was this crazy Serbian guy who taught math like a preacher speaking in tongues. He used to give these insane (but awesome) problem sets that would take weeks to finish and a quire of paper to write up. One time after he graded one, he came up to me in the hallway and said, “I really enjoyed reading the solutions zat you wrote.” I probably said thanks or something, and then he pointed his finger about a centimeter from my face, widened his eyes, and said, “But zee real question is… DID YOU ENJOY WRITING ZEM?!” It was a great question and one that I’ve always taken to heart.

So, in other news, my sleep pattern has been all messed up. For one, S is out of town which throws me off. For two, it’s insanely hot out here right now. I’m not sure how hot because the only reading I can get online is the one from Nobbys Head which I’ve been told is significantly cooler than anywhere inland (if only I had a friend who frequently blogged about the weather and complained about its coverage, I might be able to get to the bottom of this). I have an air conditioner, but that sometimes makes me too cold, so I go back and forth between open windows and a fan and closed windows and the air con (that’s what they call it here instead of AC). The bottom line is – I’m just a bit of a finicky sleeper. I’m not an insomniac or anything like that, but I can’t just put my head down and be out. Things like temperature, lighting, and background noise seem to affect me more than the average person.

In other other news, at the urging of a coworker, I’ve joined an Ultimate Frisbee team. I’d rather play something like flag football or softball or soccer, but Frisbee is OK. It’s a great cardio workout and not super competitive, so it’s not a huge deal that I’m a pretty mediocre player. In fact, it’s a little too un-competitive. It’s kind of the hippie-ish, don’t-be-so-aggro-man sport. I always thought it was the wuss sport (Frisbee : Football :: Yoga : Weightlifting), but as I get older, sadly, the wuss sports are more appealing. The first session was this week, but we didn’t play any organized games, just some pickup. I think organized games start next week, but I’m not sure. I’ll keep you all posted.

Last, I’ll leave you all with the latest thing that bothers me that shouldn’t bother me: people not wearing shoes. You see that here all the time. I’m not talking about at the beach or on your lawn or anything like that. I’m talking about people getting on the bus and going to uni without shoes or people barefoot in the supermarket or at the pub. What the hell? Is a pair of sneakers such a cramp to your style? You can’t be encumbered by some flip-flops? It’s just weird, and it seems uncomfortable both physically (walking on rocks and bark) and mentally (using a public bathroom). Is it a style thing? A money thing? A statement thing? I mean, it’s nothing to me, but what’s the attraction?