Leaves are green.

No! Really? I thought they were pink with yellow polka dots…

 

This week has had its ups and downs, which is OK if they are normal little ups and downs but not ok if there are more downs than ups and the downs are DOWNS and not downs.

From Sunday: I had a hugely productive, satisfying weekend, because I set myself goals, but little ones. I met every single one of them. So I felt productive, and because I felt productive, I felt satisfied. Sunday was also the day for SWC final, so I watched the closing ceremony. Now, I haven't been exactly supportive of the WC – it took me a while to warm to the fact that it was even being hosted in my country (traffic was a nightmare), but eventually I watched a few games. During the closing ceremony, I had goose bumps on my entire body. I felt so proud that my country could pull off a closing event that was so spectacular. Maybe I was biased because they had elephant “puppets”, which were really really well done, or the fact that the light projection was absolutely amazing, but I was really wowed by the show that we put on, and the fact that we pulled it off :) If you didn't see the show, I'm sure you can find a copy of it on YouTube.

In case my last few blog posts haven't been obvious, I haven't been my usual chipper self lately. Part of it is because in my life, everything goes wrong at the same time. Some of it is a bit too private to share on this blog, some of it is just mundane and thus too boring to put on this blog, but the stuff about varsity life I can…

For a few weeks, I have been anxiously awaiting the arrival of the Staff Member Responsible for assigning Teaching Assistant duties. I worked my ass off in the beginning of the year, just so that I wouldn't have to do these duties in the second half. But I was still assigned, and the relevant staff member had scuttled off to America on holiday, only to return this week (when the term started). She didn't respond to emails either. So, when I explained the situation (nicely, of course), she told me to find a replacement… So I did, but then the replacement let me down at short notice. So I went back to SMR to tell her, and she told me that I’d have to do the lab for this week (from next week, there is no way on hell I'm TAing…). So I did it today (grumbling all the way, of course), but I realised that I actually really do like TAing, even if its just because I can say really strange stuff and they have to listen to me. Which is fun. And I can draw and write on the blackboard (they totally are mutually exclusive), and they get to think that I’m weird, because I talk about stroking plants and stuff (or something to that effect). Mostly its just to get them relatively ok with the fact that plants aren’t just blobs of green stuff, and can be cool, if you allow you mind to let you think that…

Oh, the post title comes from one of my favourite things to say to undergrads about annotating their drawings (i.e., if they annotate a label showing a leaf with “green”, I WILL write No! Really? I thought they were pink with yellow polka dots!)