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

You've always rather resented the whole 'women are better at multitasking' thing because you are not. Your ability to tune out the world while you focus on one thing at a time is infinite. Your ability to type this journal in English, feed the baby, watch the news, do the washing up, get breakfast for the toddler, prepare for an OFSTED inspection at work and load the washing machine while simultaneously chatting in Russian to your MiL, taking the toddler upstairs for a poo, perusing the instructions to eliminate curly dashes from your GuideML, rescuing a climbing baby from the hi-fi separates, (or, possibly, rescuing the hi-fi separates from a climbing baby), reminding the toddler 26 times to put his pants back on, compose comprehension quesitons in your head and read a book called 'Sumita's Pink Bicycle for the 3 millionth time is not.

[Brief pause while you wash yoghurt off the back of the baby's head]

[Another brief pause while you disinfect the high chair, sweep the floor, and take the rubbish out]

["If you eat that all yourself, I'll read you a book."]

[Another brief pause while you muse on the fact that, having been forced to move to Salford, BBC Breakfast is gamely trying to make Manchester the centre of the universe. Although, to be fair, the fact it isn't raining there _is_ news]

[Less brief pause while you try to convince the baby that the computer is not a toy 22987v9c8g??????)(*&^%$£"]

[Brief pause while you finish cleaning yoghurt off the floor]

[Hang on, there's still yoghurt on the baby]

[...reading a book...]

["Noooooo! Not the iPhone!"]

["Put you pants back on!"]

[What are we going to have for dinner tonight? *Much discussion in Russian*]

OK, I'll finish this later.

Thank you Sol I felt I was watching you and yours via a picture window. It brought those days of looking after babies back very clearly.
I never understand yoghurt, it has the magical ability to spread, and I am sure there is more once it is out of the pot than ever existed before the foil top was removed.

Hmmm... messy, eh... *takes notes*

What's wrong with curly dashes? ~R

Multitasking?

for both the post and the multitasking.

Yoghurt is indeed a trial. Still, once you embrace the mess you can sit back that it is relatively good for them. And if you baulk at the sugar content you can always brew your own. Which they won't eat, no matter how much pureed fruit you add.

Actually, Recumbantman, it turns out it is dashes in general which show up funny in some browsers and the apostrophes which are curly which are problematic. What the difference is between curly and regular apostrophes is beyond me so I have decided to ignore the issue. This always works.

> I have decided to ignore the issue. This always works.

Yeeeeeees ...

re the curly apostrophes, I think Sol is correct, ignore the little pests. I think it all depends on your machine, the keyboard and the possible word processing software that you may have used to compose in.

It's quicker for me to go through with a search and replace to eradicate them than point them all out at times, which is why it's not such a big deal.




I have realised that multi-tasking is too much for me these days. Single tasking isn't much better either as I tend to get distracted and just plain forget what it was I was _supposed_ to be doing.

Oooo... I hate getting derailed and yet, it seems to be happening all thie time these times....

Don't worry about not being able to multi-task. Nobody can multi-task. There is nobody in the world who performs two tasks better when only giving half their attention to the tasks.

Multi-tasking is a myth invented by employers who want one person to do the work of two.

I'm not able to multi-task. I can't listen to the radio and read/proofread fro example. Just how my sons managed to do their homework while having loud music on is a mystery to me.

Actually it isn't just the the multi tasking that drives me up the wall, it's the fact that I never know how long things will take, or diarise the interruptions, so I can't manage my time to fit things in in a nice neat schedule.

The point being that that was why I had to stop doing Create. Sometimes I have whole half hours free, but quite when that will be is unpredictable.

There, I finally finished the journal.

I remember it well. It will get better once the children are adults.

Except to say 'or *can* diarise the introductions'. And I have no idea how diarise is spelt either.

>>I'm not able to multi-task. I can't listen to the radio and read/proofread fro example>>

For me, it's quite the opposite, I use music to drown other, more distracting noises.

Like when I was studying to become an executive secretary, the girl in the sudent room next to mine was practising singing scales (and not completely accurately, which made it so much worse to listen to) but a few rooms down the corridor there was a Rastafari playing reggae around the clock, and the back beat drove me nuts as well.

Until I found that by playing familiar music (meaning I didn't really have to pay attention to it since I had heard it so many times before) loud enough so that I couldn't hear them helped me focus on my homework.

Everyone multitasks, except perhaps Gerald Ford who (reportedly) couldn't walk and chew gum.

People play piano while singing. One performance, different activities. Even the left hand doesn't know what the right is doing.

True story:

An organist (friend of mine) thought while practising 'This is great -- brain, arms, fingers, feet, all exercised at once. What better to keep the Alzheimer's at bay!'

Coming down from the organ loft he said to his wife. 'I was just thinking, playing the organ should stave off, ah, -- what's that condition, where you can't remember things?'