| Author | Message | ||
     Des (Des) Username: Des Registered: 09-2010 Posted From: 86.143.98.239 |
I've spent my life grinding away at office jobs and, since retiring, blogging myself silly. Each a cumulative stage in some pattern of islands of self. Are you grinding away, similarly? Hope you all have a good time in Brighton. | ||
| Weber (Weber_gregston) Username: Weber_gregston Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 194.66.23.11 |
I'm glad that says blogging. I misread it at first... There's a sign up in my office that says "YOUR PENNIES COULD MAKE A DIFFERENT" trying to make us give up the pence at the end of our pay slips, I've misread that a few times as well. I'm sure Freud would have something to say to that... | ||
| Gary Fry (Gary_fry) Username: Gary_fry Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 82.31.20.76 |
I'm grinding away with a plan. Another seven years of full-time work and I'll be free. If it doesn't kill me first. Which is possible. | ||
| Mbfg (Mbfg) Username: Mbfg Registered: 09-2010 Posted From: 82.6.90.110 |
I'm no longer grinding. I didn't grind when I first left school because I was an electrician and making and creating things with my hands. Then I worked in an office and without realising I was suddenly grinding away at nothing. At fruitlss, pointless nothing. Now I teach people to be electricians and it's the hardest job I've ever had but it is never, never a grind. Yeah, most of my students are 16 - 18 and full of piss and vinegar and many hardly able to write or even say their own names, but it is never a grind. especially when one of them looks up while battling through resistivity calculations and blinks and says "Yeah, I get it." Then there's writing of course how can life ever be a grind when there's writing... Cheers Terry | ||
| Zed (Gary_mc) Username: Gary_mc Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 81.96.253.77 |
I grind between the hours of 8:30 and 5:15 on a weekday. After that, the grind ends; I leave it behind. If I didnt have my writing and my family, then all the rest would be a grind, too. The non-grind stuff keeps me going. When my kid tells me he loves me, the grind doesn't even exist. It's gone - just like that. *clicks fingers* | ||
| Carolinec (Carolinec) Username: Carolinec Registered: 06-2009 Posted From: 92.232.199.129 |
>>Now I teach people to be electricians and it's the hardest job I've ever had but it is never, never a grind. Yeah, most of my students are 16 - 18 and full of piss and vinegar and many hardly able to write or even say their own names, but it is never a grind. especially when one of them looks up while battling through resistivity calculations and blinks and says "Yeah, I get it." << Amen to that, Terry! There's no better way to earn a crust than to help others to learn imo. I only ever felt I was "in the grind" when I was doing boring admin jobs. As soon as I dragged myself off to uni (I never got the chance when I was younger) and later started helping others to study, learn and achieve something for themselves, it's been great. I'm very lucky that I'm able to do something I really enjoy. I feel for those of you who feel stuck in boring jobs.  But surely your writing isn't a grind, all those of you on here who write? | ||
| Zed (Gary_mc) Username: Gary_mc Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 81.96.253.77 |
My job used to be great. Then computers arrived. (I'm a structural draughtsman) | ||
| Des (Des) Username: Des Registered: 09-2010 Posted From: 86.143.98.239 |
My job used to be great. Then computers arrived. ================== From Brutalism to Blandness? From Books to Ebooks? | ||
| Zed (Gary_mc) Username: Gary_mc Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 81.96.253.77 |
Er, no, from the drawing board to the computer terminal. | ||
| Mbfg (Mbfg) Username: Mbfg Registered: 09-2010 Posted From: 212.219.63.204 |
We had to do a litle drawing board work when I took my electrical City and Guilds back in 1974. Simple stuff but I really enjoyed it. It is the interaction between the hand and the finished product that computors steal. Whatever we do that involves computers is achieved through the same actions; tapping keys, clicking a mouse etc. it's why i bought a real guitar and not a Rock Star Wii game when they burst onto the scene a couple of years ago...unfortunately my hand doesn't interact with those damned strings very well. Still, the racket I produce is my own rackt! Cheers Tel | ||
| John Forth (John) Username: John Registered: 05-2008 Posted From: 217.20.16.180 |
From Books to Ebooks? For God's sake, Des, let it go!  | ||
| Des (Des) Username: Des Registered: 09-2010 Posted From: 86.143.98.239 |
Real-life transitions parallel the archetypal transitions of the soul. Like Brutalism in architecture... | ||
| Zed (Gary_mc) Username: Gary_mc Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 217.156.210.82 |
I wish I knew what on earth you were talking about.  | ||
| Des (Des) Username: Des Registered: 09-2010 Posted From: 86.143.98.239 |
Every man is an island. And sometimes uncharted waters need to be crossed to make visits to each other. I'll get there soon. Meaning-while, apologies for grinding on... | ||
| Gary Fry (Gary_fry) Username: Gary_fry Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 129.11.76.215 |
This is a nice article about handwriting as opposed to typing, etc: http://www.aber.ac.uk/media/Documents/short/phenom.html | ||
| Craig (Craig) Username: Craig Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 99.126.164.88 |
http://youtu.be/DBkLeI9PZcc | ||
| Mick Curtis (Mick) Username: Mick Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 86.181.8.175 |
Argh! | ||
| Des (Des) Username: Des Registered: 09-2010 Posted From: 86.143.98.239 |
That's a very interesting link, Gary F. (So's the one with Dolly Parton that followed it). Gary's link can also be extended to the psychology of what medium the writer knows he is writing *for* (ie. paper or hypertext) as well as what medium he is actually putting those words *in* in the first place (fountain pen, pencil, biro (and whhat quality of paper), old-fashioned type-writer, voice on tape-recorder, moder word-processor, direct to internet/hyperetext). | ||
| Hubert (Hubert) Username: Hubert Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 178.118.75.178 |
I've never stopped grinding away, even though I'm currently jobless. Third year of journalism, now, and with a bit of luck I'll have the old diploma next year. Why do I do it at my 'advanced old age'? The officials at the unemployment office (or whatever it's called in England) told me I'm 'too old' to ever find work again and otherwise leave me alone since I'm not a priority, so I said to myself "Well, let's see what happens." It's fun being among 20-year-olds, even if I don't share their naivety and generally positive outlook. | ||
| Gary Fry (Gary_fry) Username: Gary_fry Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 86.181.16.244 |
>>>The officials at the unemployment office (or whatever it's called in England) We call it the pub. | ||
| Gary Fry (Gary_fry) Username: Gary_fry Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 86.181.16.244 |
Thought you might like that, Des. There are some beautiful empirical-phenomenological essays, akin to literature at their best. I remember one about the experience of forgiveness. Very moving. That's my kind of social science. | ||
| Des (Des) Username: Des Registered: 09-2010 Posted From: 86.143.98.239 |
A lot of this new 'argument' stems from zed's My job used to be great. Then computers arrived. (I'm a structural draughtsman) on another thread. | ||
| Des (Des) Username: Des Registered: 09-2010 Posted From: 86.143.98.239 |
Sorry *this* thread. | ||
| Carolinec (Carolinec) Username: Carolinec Registered: 06-2009 Posted From: 92.232.199.129 |
>>Third year of journalism, now, and with a bit of luck I'll have the old diploma next year. Why do I do it at my 'advanced old age'? The officials at the unemployment office (or whatever it's called in England) told me I'm 'too old' to ever find work again and otherwise leave me alone since I'm not a priority, so I said to myself "Well, let's see what happens." It's fun being among 20-year-olds, even if I don't share their naivety and generally positive outlook.<< Nice one, Hubert! It's the more "mature" student that I enjoy working with most - having been a mature student myself when I did my higher level studies. Good on you!  | ||
| Hubert (Hubert) Username: Hubert Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 178.116.51.105 |
Thanks, Caroline. This year the grinding promises to be particularly intense. Lots of interviewing coming up, and some subjects are pretty tough, e.g. Socio-economics, the bugbear of many students as it happens. I look forward to Introduction to investigative journalism. My forte is languages - in fact English and French are my top scores, with reasonably good marks for Dutch and German. I fail to see what so many students find difficult in French. |