h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

> It seems the gods are FORCING me to be a writer because no one wants me for anything else at all.

Agapanthus, it's looking more and more like you're eminently qualified to become a writer. Writers traditionally have odd jobs or none at all, like street sweeping, cleaning out chicken coops, obituary writing, security guard, etc. If you're looking for a job, you might try hot air balloon repair, or training chickens in aquatic ballet, or even underwater crocheting.

[fg]

Those of you who have kids, don't you sometime wish you could eradicate them from the face of the planet?

There I am, doing my homework when they start fighting, over a pencil of all things. Now, C is allegedely done with his homework and I have sent him to clean his room about 5 minutes before. I call him into my room where he proceeds to tell me that he is not done with his homework.

Now, because of my anger at his lies, I can't concentrate on my homework.



Just needed to get that out of my head, I'm going to go shoot some hoops now.

Ooh gosh. I just meant that the people didn't go to the US a few hundred years ago were the unadverterous lazy ones, so the UK is far more staid as a result.

Well I think it is anyway, probably wrong, though I do think that it's the reason why we haven't had a revolutions since the Mayflower sailed.

Agapanthus:

What about doing some volentry work? Everyone's suggesting that aren't they? In fact you're probably tired of hearing it aren't you?

Ourght to go to bed really..

*back from B*lgium*

Kids - my 15 will wish herself away from the face of tomorrow. I was away for 2 days and she has gone wrong quite some ways.

Silence - I can cope with some noise coming from outside. It's the mess inside me that bothers me. Do you know the song by Björk titled It's Oh So Quiet? Well, it's about me.

I didn't get my paycheck again today. I worked at a new (to me) post office station and had to call up another sub and aske her help to get the safe open. There is no safe in the Lincoln PO. Apart from that, the rest of the day went well. It's a backwater post office on a busy highway, next to a garage and a general store. Not much happens in Tinnie.

Hypatia, I will take you to a Quiet Place while you are in Lincoln County.

Eats, we'll miss you. Godspeed.

Okay, how do you dump a friend who has become *ahem* burdensome? I have a friend who was, at one point in time, a bit bothersome, but has now become a huge pain. She's extremely needy, and honestly, with everything I'm doing and all my committees and teaching and being D's mom, I'm stretched a little too thin to be her soundingboard/problem solver.

How do I do this so that I can step away from her, but not jepordize D's friendship with her son?

Z! That's a couple of sweeping generalisations without so much as a shred of evidence to back it up

That's a rough spot there MR. Not sure how to handle that.

MR, you may have to always have an excuse not to talk to her/go out with her/etc. Eventually, she should get the picture. It's not always easy to cool off a friendship.

Lil, that offer of a quiet place sounds wonderful. My washing machine just started screeching at me. I really don't want to have to buy a new washer, but it didn't sound at all good. It's so expensive to get anything worked on these days, that you may as well get another one.

I hope you and have good news soon on the paycheck front. And Amy, since everyone is so impressed with your work so far, I'm sure they'll be offering you multiple contracts. As they should. And Ag, you are a wonderful writer. I wish I had your flair with words.

Night all.

Night GDZ, morning all.

I think you have little excuse too, Ag, you are just going to have to knuckle down and get on with it!

Pilates this morning and she is so amazed at how flexible we have all remained over our eight week break, that she is going to step up the pace faster than usual.

I am completely unable to find quiet, tinnitus keeps me company.

{Courtesy}

Z, I used the same argument when Claus the Dane was claiming that Danes and Denmark were wonderful because of the Vikings.

Now I do agree with him about Danes and Denmark, but I couldn't resist pointing out that all the strong Viking blood was now flowing through English veins, and that Denmark's charm was based on the fact it comprised the stay-at-homes.

One thing which I think has affected the US national culture and helped to create its national arrogance is that, apart from the Native Americans and African Americans, it comprises entirely of people whose family history presents 'the Old Country' wherever that may be (Ireland, Italy, Haiti, Poland, wherever) as a Bad Place politically and in terms of equality and economic opportunity.

If your family culture says that America is better than any other place for really solid family reasons, then that wil be a powerful reinforcement of the general level of patriotism which is a part of most national cultures.

The most intelligent definition of America I have ever heard from an American is that 'it is the country which sucks the least'. I don't think I agree, (I suspect that Canada or Scandinavia might suck the least, but I am not sure about that). But it is an intelligent definition.



GDZ - one really difficult culture clash between children and grownups is their concept of time. I could type about the dangers and consequences of this one in the context of divorced families for hours, I'm afaid.

On a lighter note, in your case it is possible that C meant he had finished his homework 'for now' and needed a short break, and we all know about optimal attention spans and how taking a break improves performance. Whereas you understood him to mean that he had finished it absolutely.

He clearly needs to have it explained why such a statement is misleading and is *effectively* a lie, regardless of intention, but it is possible that he said it without consiciously being aware that it could be misinterpreted.

One of the most difficult things about parenting is that it is so hard to imagine or remember the very different way in which children's brains work, and how absolutely differently they see the world.

Btw, what is happening about his counselling? One thing which all children need to some extent, and children in difficult circumstances need to a far greater extent, is mental privacy so that they can work out what their emotions and thoughts actually are. Counselling is a great way to achieve this if they are 100% sure about the confidentiality. This is another thing which I could talk about very passionately for hours, so I won't.

Ben

Oh, the joys of registration when the computers throw a wobbly like they did yesterday afternoon! I can officially confirm that all the comments made a few weeks ago regarding registration are true - it's a complete nightmare and by far the worst bit of the first year of any course.

Hmm. Sorry, that was a bit a propos of nothing, wasn't it? I just didn't have anything intelligent to say about anything that anyone else has said.

I like quiet.

My cold has spread, and I think it's trying to act all tough and pretend it's flu. Every part of my body aches to some degree, although my chest and nose are fine except for the occasional drip.

But all I can do is wait it out and keep taking Beechams, I hope I feel better by Friday otherwise I'll have to either bow out of the event or put up with spending three days at a cold and damp campsite when poorly.

[Kathryn]