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Tuesday, October 28, 2008

You know that moment...

...when you suddenly realise that a person you thought you knew quite well could actually turn out to be a crazy person. And they know where you live...

Although I did have a good discussion the other day about the difference between 'good weird' and 'bad weird'. I'd define it like this - 'good weird' is someone who has a few strange obsessions and interests, but is an interesting person to talk to and usually has a grounded view of the universe and a high level of self-awareness. 'Bad weird' is someone who's logical thought processes aren't quite as logical as they should be, and lacks that self-critical element to take a step back and say 'hmmm, is this sensible?'.

An example of 'bad weird': there's a woman on my web html course who hadn't switched on a computer in four years before she started the course. Her reason for coming on the course is that she's doing another course and one of the ways she could submit her coursework was as a website. But she doesn't know how to create a website. So she's had to come on a course to learn how to build websites. So now she's on two courses at the same time and is struggling to do both (and telling everyone how hard things are for her).

And I sit there thinking, well a) you had other options, and b) if you don't know how to turn on a computer, maybe designing a website is a bit beyond you.

My logical thought process would have gone like this: I could submit my coursework as a website. I don't know how to design a website. I'll do my coursework a different way. For me, as a sane person, opting to submit my coursework using a method I know nothing about is illogical. The solution is to do it a different way, not to go on a extra class.

My friend Anthony suggests that this woman is actually sabotaging herself deliberately. She's afraid of failure so she chooses a tortuous method of completing her task, which makes it even harder, but when she eventually fails to hand her coursework in it won't be because she didn't know the subject, it's because she couldn't master building a website.

But my answer is: she's weird in a bad way.

Talking of weird people, my friend Terri is back from Japan and meeting several randomers and mentalists in the rural backwater she now finds herself in. Serious lol rofl lmao moments on her blog. This is the best bit so far.

1 comment:

  1. HEY! I am not a crazy person!

    And the joke's on you if I am...cos I do know where you live...and may even one day be a near-neighbour! Mwahahaaa

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