| 100 in 1000 |
- Spend a week up a mountain learning to ski
- Visit Karoline's place in Moravia
Hold a conversation in Czech (only)- Drink 500ml of each of the following beers:
PilsnerStaroprammen- Budvar
- Velke Popovice
- U Fleku
GambrinusKrusovice
Respond to at least one GOARN request (WHO and MSF are
also acceptable)Travel across the AtlanticReturn to South America- Read a book to, or with, an impressionably aged child
- Participate in one NanoWriMo Challenge and come within at least 10,000 words of the goal length
Have my nose pierced- Have my next tattoo drawn
Purchase the perfect jeans (x 2 pairs)- Attend a spin class 3 times a week for 8 consecutive weeks
- Bake Viv's cheesecake
Make David's casserole Make David's Chicken Cashew-nut StirfryInvite 4 people who don't know one another too well to dinner- Ride from Vienna to Venice on a motorbike (pillion acceptable, those less desirable)
- Attend a book group for at least two books
- Go on a choir weekend (learn and perform difficult piece in two/three days)
- Visit Madame Tussaud's (in London)
- Take an architecture appreciation course
Join an all-girl group and sing a soloPublish in a scientific journal (top two authors)Cook a duck or other 'waterfowl'. Locate the Al-Timimi's from Doha Veterinary PractiseHave a pedicureMaintain a Brazilian (ouch) for three months.Find a trustworthy Czech hairdresser- Treat my inner-6-year-old twice a week (at least)
- Do the liver-cleansing diet properly (12 weeks)
- Don't eat out for one month
Find a flat and flatmate- Purchase one Joseph sweater
- Purchase one of the following pairs of
designer shoes (they MUST also be COMFORTABLE, and be able to be worn with 4
different outfits and 2 types of occasion): Jimmy Choos, Manolo Blahniks,
Christian Louboutin (Ebay or 2nd hand are acceptable)
- Send 5 books to the booksphere and track them.
- Go hanggliding
- Read 10 'classic' books (from 1001 Books to Read before you Die)
Moll FlandersEverything is illuminatedMadam BovaryZen & the Art of Motorcycle MaintainanceCatch-22OdysseusOn the Road
- Run (non-stop!) for 5kms outside (preferably in a street race thingy)
- Send Christmas Cards on time
Make a collage/mural out of street lights on my wallBuy a bed, build it, and sleep soundly in itGo to AfricaHost an 'event' (classified as and when)Organise a 30th Birthday PartyWear a costume- Sing on stage
- Buy a painting that evokes memories of Prague (cannot involve queues!)
Learn a god-damned card game that stays in my memory (other than fish/snap)See sunrise. Be sober. Have woken for it. Excludes months Nov-Mar- Take a walk and flip coins at each intersection
Win something- Draft a will
- Take a roadtrip
Go to Italy already- Sea Kayak around Abel Tasman Park (NZ)
Get plantsTake a train to another Eastern European Destination (accession countries are acceptable) alone preferably.- Get UK to give me a provisional motorcyclists license and simultaneously get a 'card' license.
- Go SCUBA diving again - at least two dives lasting 30mins each.
Go to a dentist. *sigh*- Do a Czech Wine Trail. And live to tell the tale
- Make an 'outbreak emergency kit'.
- Go to bed prior to 11pm every night (inc weekends) for four consecutive weeks.
- Marvel over lack of tiredness
- Dine at a Gordon Ramsey restaurant (or Nobu)- preferably for free.
Bet on the nags- Do something for charity (applying and getting a 'red card' will count)
- Walk along the Champs Elysee
- Do 100 sit ups in a row
- Do 50 pressups (arms in tight)
- Make branston pickle (or nearest substitute)
- Cook something 'new' and 'adventurous' at least once a month
Find a mentorBe a mentorLearn what mentoring is all aboutMeet an online person in real lifeResist the flirt. Once. Just one night. It's okay if people don't immediately succumb to my natural charm. Really it is.Spend time at a spa (spa towns in the CR don't count)- Send a care package to someone
Get a Tata Bojs CD- Take a French/German/Dutch course and SPEAK THE DAMNED LANGUAGE WHEN I HAVE THE OPPORTUNITY EVEN THOUGH IT MAKES ME SOUND
LIKE AN IDIOT!
- Order new contact lenses.
Make a list of things I take with me when I pack for different occasions- Eat lobster. Prepared by someone else.
Back up the blogPut everything onto an external hard drive- Find a DDR mat and console and 'dance, I say dance!'�
- Go to the beach and lie on the warm sand. For an hour. (with sunscreen on, natch)
- Take and complete a course in either: Tango, Salsa or Flamenco
- Join the Municipal Library of Prague
- Move to another country
Go to a live concert of a band I actually like- Pay off debts (student loan excl.)
Send thank you cards for every gift I receive (other than the gift of happiness, blah blah blah).- Get an agent (literary or theatre)
- Go to a sports bar without cringing, by personal choice
- Ride a rollercoaster
- Hold a snake
Spend a day wandering around a museum (not art gallery!) |
|
| *singing* History, sometimes repeats... |
| Tuesday, 28 February 2006 |
History’s an interesting thing innit. Dad reckons that we should impose a shelf-life on history, say, 40 years. Mum reckons it’s wasted on the young. I reckon they’re both wrong.
Here’s the deal:
History/Collective Memory/Reports
All historical documents are likely to be written from a person’s perspective. There’s no such thing as pure objectivity when a human is involved. It’s impossible. I can’t condone the behaviour of anyone in Hitler’s parade, however, it does strike me that perhaps they were incapable of thinking that they were doing anything ‘wrong’. Or maybe in later years their consciences have been playing up. Whatever…historians write about the horrible atrocities (and that’s how it’s always phrased) of the Holocaust. The nay-sayer David Irving went to jail in Austria for suggesting otherwise, because of the collective guilt felt by Austrians and Germans to this day. Will they get over that guilt? Yes, eventually. But why should they get over it rapidly?
If we had an expiry date, we wouldn’t remember the things that went before. Which means that in another forty years (arbitrary figure though it may be, let’s use it throughout) we’ll have another Reich (or equivalent) of people attempting eugenics by smokehouse. Or the more technologically advanced equivalent. Another Pol Pot. Another [insert favourite genocidal maniac here].
The aim of civilisation is to further itself, right? Some take this to mean, ‘kill others’, while others take it to mean ‘diversify’. I don’t know which is going to be better for the human race, I’m not an anthropologist, nor do I particularly worry about the dying out of the human race (if animals can become extinct, why can’t we?). I do disagree with systematic wiping out of a culture/ethnic race etc. Surely, as with all other animals (barring them damned cockroaches etc.), diversity is the only way to prolong our survival? In which case, wiping out an ethnic group is senseless. More dictators need to take Genetics.101.
Of course, despite our previous knowledge of genocide, we did nothing during the slaying of the Bantu, we’re doing very little in Darfur, but we did manage to do something in Kosovo. I’m not saying that ‘something’ was correct, and that a lot of innocent people STILL were killed (either by direct assault or economic sanctions). However, without intervening in some way, perhaps more people may have been killed. I need a quantitative risk assessor…?
Media
Here’s where the media enter. These days, the media is not ENTIRELY controlled by two people. The majority of the mainstream media (MSM - in the newsblog world) is, apparently, but there’s a lot of other information getting ‘out there’ that certain people don’t necessarily want to have circulating. Take for instance, Sungari River (China, people!!). Yes, the guy who originally blew the whistle was fired, but hopefully, some environmental agency picked him up. I do hope so (I’m SUCH an optimist, it’s ridiculous). So this is where people like me, who document what we see and publish for the world to form an opinion over, are strengthening, gaining weight (literally unfortunately, as well as figuratively!) and becoming more widespread.
So, the media spreads the word – rightly, wrongly, oversensationalisatingly (still on my rampage against sensible English, as you can see), and slowly, other humans begin to form their own opinions. These opinions may eventually lead to political rallying, activist movements etc. and finally, those who are elected into power MAY start listening to the people. (gad…give this woman a red badge someone…quick!)
Edumacation
However, and this is where Mum’s point comes in, opinions are going to be easily swayed by those of us (can I afford to put myself in that category?) who have the capacity to write persuasively. People won’t be able to form ‘informed opinions’ if they don’t have the education to look for the information, or know what to do with the myriad of information-streams that are now available to them.
This is one of the reasons that it’s VITAL that history is taught in a more realistic and accessible manner than I believe it currently is in schools. Yes, the Stuarts gave us a lot (inc. Church of England…”cake or death?”); and I guess if you’re American, it’s nice to know the name of the boat upon which your forefathers arrived (do they teach about the smallpox infested blankets I wonder?), but it’s ALSO important to understand the political regimes in countries that are far from us, where people aren’t as free as us, and to understand how they got themselves into that situation (usually with ‘help’ from foreigners…sadly!). This means that children from a young age will learn a) what empires used to exist, b) how they fell, c) why they didn’t work, d) what the impact of the fall of the empires was on the individual states/republics/countries, e) the good things about that and f) the bad things about that. In this manner, they’ll be a lot more aware of the economics/politics that seem to make this world turn. Love? Pah…even I, with my pink-specs know that it ain’t love that makes this world go around.
So, sitting kids at desks in front of a map of the world simply ain’t gonna cut it. Telling them about JFK’s assassination won’t leave any impact at all. Role-playing in the classroom, watching videos etc, other teaching techniques MAY have a bit more of an impact. Listening to, reading from, and writing to school children IN those far-flung countries will have more of an impact. All children have the capacity for imagination, sometimes I wonder that they leave school with any of it intact. Sit them in front of the computer. Hook the computer up to skype. Call someone in a classroom in Kosovo. Listen to the child’s tales of not knowing where their Dad went. Go through why the children in your class think this happened? Take them through the history before the area was heavily bombed. ASK them, for goodness sakes, what THEY would have done next. These are the NEXT people at the UN Security Council. Do you want them growing us as ignorant as we did?
Nurturing a growing cultural understanding in the next generation? That, my dears, is vital. That’s the message from someone who can calculate her blood proportions to the nearest 1/32th…
Not that she can quite figure out where the hell all this stuff is coming from? Was I brainwashed in my sleep? Dad....?
And in other news:
Am desperately trying to keep up with administrative tasks of getting to Azerbaijan (yes, it does seem as though I’m going, the WHO called this morning to ask whether I’d be comfortable setting up a laboratory (NO!) and so are now looking for a Lab expert…since apparently, they’ve now secured funding?) which means filling in forms to request travel from the SZU for my Madrid module (beginning of April). I asked Vlado whether there were more administrative things that I could finish off before I departed too…sicne I’m getting SOOO accustomed to them (also sent letters and photocopies of all boarding passes and ticket receipts to OneWorld and StarAlliance in the hope of getting some damned points for all this countryhopping – that took an hour and a half to prepare/document). He replied, “what about a trip report?” and I hastily assured him that I’d done those for all trips thus far. He said, “I mean, for Madrid.” I looked at him. Then I said, “I haven’t been yet, Vlado!” “Ah yes,” he replied, “but it would be well to be abreast of the situation, no?!” ARGH!!!
Meanwhile, I’m also trying to persuade WHO to take another EPIET colleague with me (surely that’ll keep me sweet with both organisations) who is BRILLIANT (in my estimation). Question is: will it work? |
posted by Nomes @ Tuesday, February 28, 2006   |
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| 4 Comments: |
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Keeping my fingers crossed for you! Hope you can go to A again, now let me guess who that brilliant EPIET fellow might be that you want to take with you... Keep my fingers crossed for both of you! Would be great!
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Keeping my fingers crossed for you! Hope you can go to A again, now let me guess who that brilliant EPIET fellow might be that you want to take with you... Keep my fingers crossed for both of you! Would be great!