I learnt something about psychosomatic disorders today, I think. I was reading some Truly Nasty Things about Stalinist USSR for History, and reached the point where I was either going to burst into tears or throw up. (Yes, it was that bad, and no, I'm not going to recount it here.) I shut my books, left the library, and went to UniSFA where I knew I would be much cheered. On the way there, the smell of food was turning my stomach, and I had a stomachache all afternoon. (Still do.)
But I love the people of UniSFA. Not only did they not push for details of the things I'd been reading that had me so very upset upon arrival, but they were highly entertaining and had me feeling better. (The opportunity to heap scorn on Stupid Scrabble helped.)
I think I'm too sensitive to History, sometimes. It gets to me - I have a vivid imagination, and a tendency to strong empathy, and I'm all too aware that these were real people, and they were suffering.
I also noticed, today, the differences age and experience can make. I seem to understand the different mindset of the eras we were studying more readily than the other students in my tute - I'm not sure if it's that I'm older (and we do change a lot between 17 and 21), or the fact that I was born in South Africa, which is so very different, and have a greater knowledge of a different cultural mindset.
Now Playing: Eurythmics, Greatest Hits on DVD. In a window in the corner of the screen, so I can periodically gaze upon the goddess who is Annie Lennox.
Stupid Scrabble, for the record, is Scrabble where it has been decreed that any combination of letters that's on dictionary.com is acceptable - including acronyms. It's very lame, hence the opportunity for heaping scorn on it. The scorn was good, it gave me a protective layer of good humour to carry me through my tutorial on Stalinist USSR. They also played a variant in which made-up words were permitted but real words weren't - and definitions had to be provided, thus combining the most spectator-friendly elements of Scrabble and Balderdash. That was fun.
But I love the people of UniSFA. Not only did they not push for details of the things I'd been reading that had me so very upset upon arrival, but they were highly entertaining and had me feeling better. (The opportunity to heap scorn on Stupid Scrabble helped.)
I think I'm too sensitive to History, sometimes. It gets to me - I have a vivid imagination, and a tendency to strong empathy, and I'm all too aware that these were real people, and they were suffering.
I also noticed, today, the differences age and experience can make. I seem to understand the different mindset of the eras we were studying more readily than the other students in my tute - I'm not sure if it's that I'm older (and we do change a lot between 17 and 21), or the fact that I was born in South Africa, which is so very different, and have a greater knowledge of a different cultural mindset.
Now Playing: Eurythmics, Greatest Hits on DVD. In a window in the corner of the screen, so I can periodically gaze upon the goddess who is Annie Lennox.
Stupid Scrabble, for the record, is Scrabble where it has been decreed that any combination of letters that's on dictionary.com is acceptable - including acronyms. It's very lame, hence the opportunity for heaping scorn on it. The scorn was good, it gave me a protective layer of good humour to carry me through my tutorial on Stalinist USSR. They also played a variant in which made-up words were permitted but real words weren't - and definitions had to be provided, thus combining the most spectator-friendly elements of Scrabble and Balderdash. That was fun.
posted by Sami at
5:10:00 AM
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