Ugh

Upon reading a blog post over at The F-Word on the subject of last names, I was reminded of a small incident that occurred a few weeks ago concerning my title. I was at the job centre filling out forms when my advisor turned to me and said...

"You've missed your title. Is it Miss, Mrs, Ms...?"

"Ms."

"So you're divorced?"

*huh? WHAT?!*

"... No. I've never been married."

"Okay then."

I then watched, a little shocked, as she wrote down my title: MISS.
I didn't want to hang around, and was a little tired and couldn't be bothered arguing. But considering that the title 'Ms.' is supposed to be neutral and can be chosen by women regardless of their married, single or divorced status, AND HAS BEEN SO FOR QUITE A WHILE, this kind of ignorance is unforgivable.

Not quite feminism, this time.

The debate on global warming has become even more heated (excuse the pun) this week after it was announced that Al Gore had won the Nobel Peace prize. On the one hand, there are fans cheering him on, glad that a man so passionate about slowing global warming and saving what natural environments we still have is being recognised for his work. On the other hand, we have those who say his argument was flawed or even completely false, that global warming is a myth and that we are now one step closer to banning all cars and placing strict limits on ego/penis size, or something.

So I want to stop, and take their scenario - that Global Warming is nothing to worry about, and if it is happening it's Not Our Fault.

I think of it from that point of view, and you know what my conclusion is?

SO WHAT?!

Seriously! Even if our cutting down forests has absolutely no impact upon the global temperature, shouldn't we still preserve them? Do we really want to live in a world devoid of all natural beauty, where the only green spaces are other people's lawns? Do we really want to destroy all the wildlife we marvelled at as children? To only ever see exotic monkeys, sloths, polar bears, leopards, peacocks etc. within the confines of zoos until they eventually die out completely? If our pumping toxins into the sea poisons and kills all that swims, shouldn't we consider finding a different way of disposing of waste? When our cars pump out gasses that befoul the air, hang in smogs and cause all kinds of respiratory diseases, maybe, just maybe, we should consider reducing the amount of pollution! All this is said without even considering global warming.

Honestly, I'll never understand some people.

I can totally sympathise with this.

From Crimitism, the way procrastination works:

• Open Word.
• Stare.
• Get up.
• Alphabetise DVD collection.
• Re-organise DVD collection by genre, ensuring there is no distinction between animation and live action. That “animation” is considered a genre is a pet peeve of mine, as if DearS and My Neighbour Totoro belong in the same room, let alone the same shelf.
• Realise I haven’t done any work.
• Have panic attack.
• Watch The Seventh Seal to cheer myself up.
• Re-organise Doctor Who DVDs, CDs and novels in chronological order, based on the time period that the story is set in, purely because I know it will take the longest possible time and require me to cross-reference various continuity guides.
• Realise what I’ve done.
• Collapse into abyss of self-loathing.
• At least it’s not Dragonball Z.
• Feel marginally better.
• Write paper on snake symbolism throughout history, beginning with the Mahabharata and ending with Metal Gear Solid.
• Try writing new blog update.
• Delete it.
• Start again.
• Give up.
• Consider enrolling in another course after I graduate.
• Realise that the course I want to do next year requires units I’ve already finished, and whether or not I complete this degree is irrelevant.
• Ponder whether “I have three unfinished degrees” makes me look like a broadly-knowledgeable journeyman or just a directionless waste of biomass.
• Stress-induced illnesses say: Who cares!
• Download application form.
  

Replace 'DVD re-organising' with 'Room tidying' and you get a rough idea of what I'm like whenever I have something more important to attend to. Application forms, unstudied texts, thankyou letters to write, blog post ideas piling up... I think I'll get mum a cup of tea instead!