Of teaspoons and soapboxes

I have had quite a few things on my mind this past week. Amongst other things, I am getting my first laptop (YAY!), my parents and grandparents had a holiday, a Halloween dress-up is coming, nothing is happening with my project (a bad thing). So, instead, I have been thinking about the ills of the world. And teaspoons.

A while ago in one of our lab meetings, we discussed an awesome paper that was published in the British Medical Journal (BMJ) about disappearing teaspoons. The authors did a neat little study on teaspoons in tearooms. They had a few interesting findings, one of which really surprised me: The rate of disappearance of higher quality spoons was not significantly higher than that of lower quality spoons... Anyway, what I have gotten around to thinking about, is that there must be some kind of teaspoon heaven (also mentioned in the paper, as a possibly place to go for unlimited spoons). Seriously. Teaspoons must be going somewhere, and surely the would have reached a saturation point by now, if teaspoons are still being manufactured! So: Is there a teaspoon heaven?

And now for the second: The soapbox. I live in South Africa, almost a new country. We have recently become a democracy, and our past is shrouded in racism. One would think, in the normal progression of things that people who have previously been oppressed would get a sense of entitlement, and this is generally the case. Fair enough. But it appears not to be limited to one race. Everyone (ok ok, a lot of people) has this attitude!

If everyone has the same sense of entitlement, the same attitude of "I'll take everything you can give me and more", where does this leave us? Less than what we started with. If no-one can be accommodating, and maybe even giving (instead of taking), the world (or SA), or even my university community might be a happier place?

One example I have thought about is littering. I've posted on the subject before, and now might have some insight into why people do it. Its rather complicated, but with my theory of entitlement, might just make sense. Maybe people litter because if someone else has to pick up their rubbish, they will be higher up in the proverbial food chain than the cleaner. So, although I don't throw down my sweet wrappers, pens and other general rubbish, I have made a resolution:

To pick up just a few pieces of litter a day.

It wont be much, and I'm not going to make much of a difference, but still. Its something. How else do you challenge and change the attitudes and mindsets of those around you?

On etiquette!

First thoughts: what a weird looking word. Second thoughts: What a loaded word...

I had a dinner party over the weekend, because I had my house all to myself, and also because even though I enjoy hosting events like these, I hadn't had one in about a year. So I emailed out invites with two weeks to go to my chosen date-of-party, to see who would be keen... I had most of my responses that week, and subsequently sent out a follow up email with important details (such as my house address) to those who had said they were coming. With two days to go to the dinner, a few people still hadn't replied!

Bad etiquette #1: Not RSVP-ing. Or RSVP-ing after the set date. This is generally for catering purposes (usually important if you would like to get fed). It really doesn't bother me if parties aren't your thing! Rather just tell me if you will be coming or not - I don't really give a hoot for your reasons! So I managed to get answers put of most of the people, after cornering them, and looking angry.

So I made food happily (I like cooking), one more guest was added to the guest list (which was fine, she had a legit excuse to change her RSVP), and I got more and more rushed as the day of the dinner wore on.

Good etiquette #1: Helping the hostess. Well, in my books anyway! This comes into the fact that I was running late, and being a bad hostess. All of the people who arrived early chipped in with help, and made my life just that little bit easier. (Even though I continued to be a bad hostess later on that evening when I had to finish making the pudding...)

The guests were asked to arrive at 7pm. Most of the had arrived by 7.20pm. By 7.45, one guest had not made his appearance. So I sms'ed him, asking if he was on his way...

REALLY Bad etiquette #2: RSVP-ing positively, then not pitching. With a really bad excuse. He was at a concert, which had been delayed due to rain. So instead of letting me know early, he waited for ME to contact HIM to tell me that he probably wouldn't be coming through. Like, Seriously??

All in all, the dinner was fun.

Good etiquette #2: Generally being sociable. It makes life so much easier if you are the hostess!

My guests excused my disorganisation, and some even wanted to help me clean up afterwards! I learnt a new good etiquette rule too:

Good etiquette #3: Bringing the host/hostess a gift (doesn't have to be anything big!), to thank them for the party. It really made me feel hugely appreciated, so thanks to those guests that did!

This brings me to my last note on etiquette:

Bad etiquette #3: Not RSVP-ing 'till after the event. Or not RSVP-ing at all! Seriously. How hard it is to type out a few words on an email?

I suppose you can't be too uptight about people not having the perfect etiquette, but I don't think it's ok to be downright rude to the person who invited you... Thoughts?

Diving weekend, and The Perfume Lab!

After a seemingly crazy week last week (which ended up being absolutely marvellous), I had a weekend to match. It was marvellous, of course!

I'm doing my 2*(or advanced) diving course, and this weekend was the weekend to catch up on dives, do some of the specific dives that I need to qualify, and generally relax. I have returned home failing on the last - I have such sore tummy muscles! (Diving must be good for me then)... Overall it was a really good weekend, the diving was good, even though Miracle waters was rather murky. We managed to find the helicopter though :)

A big part of my day today was the event of The Perfume Lab. Luke and I were models for the lab, in which students had to say whether perfume was male or female. The trick was that there was a third perfume, unisex! Because the students couldn't know the gender of the model, they had to be blindfolded. The second part of it was that both Luke and I had to shave our arms, to match each other. This was the cause of much hilarity for the visitors to our lab... and interestingly enough, I was less keen than Luke to shave my arms (I've never done it before, ok!)... The lab itself was funny - it hard not to giggle when students guess the gender of the perfume completely wrong, or they knock over the beaker of water or do anything else which in any other situation would not be regarded as funny...

The only thing now is that, although I have scrubbed my arms about 6 times, I can still smell all three perfumes (the unisex smells like a granny-smell)... and as such, its a little confusing for my poor ole nose!

Here's to not smelling confused!

It's spring!

Every year I used to anxiously wait for Spring to arrive. I would watch the trees for buds, and wander around the garden, inspecting the plants for any signs of growth. When Spring finally sprung, I would revel in the beauty of the flowers, the warmth, the lengthening days and the smell of flowers that would permeate our garden and our home. Even last year, I took spent some time in my garden, looking at the blooms.

This year was somehow different. I feel like I have missed spring! It is almost like I woke up last week to find a beautiful garden already full of flowers, and it feels like summer... And I'm left standing, and wondering "Where'd it go"? In all honesty, I was probably too busy a) with my project and b) being depressed that I just never noticed! Sad times.

I got home early this afternoon, and while I did spend most of it collapsed on my bed, reading (and finishing) Good Omens, by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman (absolutely brilliant!), I did spend about 45 mins before and after sunset (incidentally my favourite time of day) in the garden. It really was lovely! Here are some pictures that I took a few years ago, of some of the flowers in my garden.

My new favourite word ...

... is "snaffle"!

It's an informal verb, and means "to illicitly take for oneself". I have a very food-orientated Labrador, and this word describes his actions very clearly...