Goody Links
The ever evolving Sign Language. [ via Swallowing Tacks ] I thought this was a real neat article showing how fascinating ASL is and how it keeps improving itself to adhere to the times. Since sign language is quite conceptual, it makes perfect sense.
Steven Champeon of a jaundiced eye quotes from Justice Steven’s dissent. You can read the entire opinion here.
If you ever thought there was such a thing as private email, think again. Yum or not, it probably wasn’t meant to be distributed. [ via MetaFilter ]
This Time Magazine cover made my day! Even if it’s a total fake. [ via CamWorld ]
Thoughts
I write fiction.
You might not be able to tell from the quality (or lack thereof) of these posts but I do write fiction. I’m currently in the process of writing a novel.
This morning, at my physical therapist’s, I realized two things. One, I’m in the wrong profession for getting juicy tidbits of other people’s lives. Two, it’s amazing what people are willing to tell a physical therapist.
There seem to be quite a few people to whom we don’t mind telling intricate stories about our life. Besides the physical therapist, there is the hairdresser, manicurist, dietician, personal trainer, dry cleaner, masseur… Most of these people are consistently in your life but for only small periods at a time.
This morning as I lay in a curtained-away table with a small electrical rod massaging my lower back, this guy in the section next to mine started talking in detail about his job to his therapist. Two interesting facts: I could hear every word and he worked in the same company as I did. As this person started divulging more and more information about his job, I felt like getting up and telling him that I was sure he didn’t want me to know this information. Last week the same thing happened to me with another therapy patient talking all about her life, but she didn’t work in my firm so it was less relevant.
The morning’s session got me thinking about how we tend to share information with people whom we barely know. I can recall many manicure sessions where another client would talk about her bitchy mother or how she was a week away from quitting but was just waiting to receive her yearend bonus. Amazing how much we’re willing to share when we think there is no way the information can be repeated to someone in our work or personal environment.
I was thinking how this therapist must have millions of little stories in his head from all the patients he sees. Considering the fact that he has three appointments an hour and works a twelve-hour day, he’s got a minimum of 35 stories every day. Even if over half of his patients are totally silent and half of the rest are boring, we end up with at least 8 stories a day. I guarantee that’s more than what I hear as a computer programmer.
Methinks it’s definitely time for a career change. Any recommendations?
Leave a Reply