To those of you who read this blog, friends (do friends read friends blogs?), as you may know the realest* of all my deadlines is fast approaching. At this stage I am disinclined to follow the thoughts of the sage “I love deadlines. I especially love the whooshing sound they make as they fly by”** and attempt to manage the impossible (hitting deadline) if only to get the damn thing*** over and done with. This first hurdle of all hurdles is not the vida but the internal seminar were the wise ancients of the Dept of Informatics (there is no place like home) climb down from their mountain-tops to throw lightening-bolts, murmer incantations and generally discuss the suitability of the dullard attempting to pass through the gates which they are set to keep. Therefore I am left to arrange my defence and attempt to explain myself. All that remains are the words “I may not have gone where I intended to go, but I think I have ended up where I intended to be.”****
And it didnt take me 20 years even though some of you may have thought so…
the blind bard
THEN Ulysses tore off his rags, and sprang on to the broad pavement with his bow and his quiver full of arrows. He shed the arrows on to the ground at his feet and said, “The mighty contest is at an end. I will now see whether Apollo will vouchsafe it to me to hit another mark which no man has yet hit.” On this he aimed a deadly arrow at Antinous, who was about to take up a two-handled gold cup to drink his wine and already had it in his hands. He had no thought of death- who amongst all the revellers would think that one man, however brave, would stand alone among so many and kill him? The arrow struck Antinous in the throat, and the point went clean through his neck, so that he fell over and the cup dropped from his hand, while a thick stream of blood gushed from his nostrils.*****
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* Social Constructivists among you would dispute this but even the most active social constructivists tend to agree that deadlines exist and follow them – why is that? Wouldnt a real conference on social constructivism really be a a group of people not submitting on time, another group not following the compulsory paper format and eventually at the conference no groups turning up?
** Douglas Adams, who else?
*** Phd…if you didnt know this you have not been paying attention.
**** Douglas Adams, who did you think?
***** Odyssey Book 22 Samuel Butler (trans.) A funny illustrated story version here.