I learnt rather harshly yesterday that sometimes you can prepare your arse off for an exam, thinking that you’ve covered all essential bases and theories, only to arrive and sit down at the desk and find that virtually every topic that wasn’t emphasised so heavily (both in the revision notes supplied and the subsequent amount of attention paid to them by yours truly) seem to make up the bulk of the exam.
So rather than regale you all with my boring stories of self-loathing and irrational self-directed hate, I’ll divert your attention elsewhere.
Life in a Day
This film aired at MIFF for anyone that managed to catch it. For those of you that didn’t, I can only bring up my initial suspicions of this film…
“This has the potential to be a whole lot of wank.”
The premise is quite simple. On July 24, 2010, film-makers and people around the world were told to shoot whatever footage they wanted to and submit it. Some ridiculous amount of footage and participants later, a 90-minute breakdown of what it means to be part of the world today was produced.
The film runs the gamut of humanity and delivers it in bite-sized vignettes of everyday life. A celebration of life? Perhaps. If the film has a theme, it would have to be universality. There’s something for everyone here, but not everyone will enjoy this film. All I can do is recommend it to anyone who is curious enough to check it out. Some sequences are brilliantly shot and manage to capture something uniquely humane (and inhumane, in many cases).
Back to the title of this post.
My mind has a tendency to go to some really strange places when I actually try to use it.
The moral of this story is I should continue to just be complacent and lazy when it comes to my brain.
The only way I can even begin to try to describe it is that it fractures into four versions of ‘the self’.
Bigger Picture Self
For whatever reason, while I’m trying to jam all manner of thoughts and ideas relative to the end goal (in this case, exam-related study) I wind up having all these innocuous and completely unrelated introspective thoughts about all things me. What I want, what I need, where I’m at, where I’m going, how I’m going to get there. My mind starts to run off with itself and initiates a full-blown philosophical inquiry, resulting in thinking about virtually everything except what I actually need to think about.
Rapid-Fire Thought Self
Imagine yourself locked in a room, running around and spewing up all manner of words that jumble about on the ground until they resemble a thought…
Curious monkeys are a danger to society.
Now, that’s what I call dilapidated!
I haven’t tasted bark in a while. I wonder if it tastes any different now.
Why is your face?
Calamari…
Troublesome turtles taught me how to trap turpentine in a tumultuous tablecloth.
Blowing raspberries is always fun.
More boxing, less dancing.
How did that get in there?
Shrug it off. Suck it up.
Fame! I’m gonna live forever… Baby, remember my name… But how many people remember Irene Cara?
Casually sauntering into a minefield is never a good idea.
Brain, if you don’t shut up, I’ll beat you like a piñata!
Yeah, I like pina colatas, but fucked if I’m getting caught in the rain.
The ‘Charles in Charge’ theme song was an underrated stroke of pure genius.
And so on… I’ve never experimented with mind-altering drugs, by the way. Ever.
Apologetic Janitor Self
This split is the one that hurriedly goes around cleaning up after Rapid-Fire Thought and the apologies vary from humble – “I’m sorry. You weren’t meant to see that.” – to disappointed – “Oh, look at the mess you’ve gone and made. It’s going to take me at least a day to clean up this nonsense.”
Intently Focused Self
If there was one fracture I would want to be the most prevalent when studying for exams, it would be this one. It shuts everything and everyone out and focuses on the task at hand. My manager at work once noticed that I furrow my brow and stick my lower lip out slightly, making myself look like a gorilla. So in other words, me at my most primate is me at my most focused. My brother has often seen it when I’m playing video games and focusing really hard on whatever is going on in front of me. It has also provided unexpected amounts of joy and laughter for co-workers who have witnessed this also.
What’s ironic is that I’m at my most calm and easygoing when I’m sitting down and writing all these words. And now, after spending enough time distracting myself from study (and you for a brief moment or two by subjecting you to these mutterings and musings of nonsense) I shall try to channel my innermost gorilla and ace the rest of these damn exams.
Scared the cat LOLing at Rapid-Fire Thought Self. This instalment rocks in general, actually.
Also, I identified with far too much of this. Maybe not the gorilla bit. When I’m concentrating, apparently I just look horrendously depressed.
Haha. Thanks very much.
I think I just needed to expel whatever the heck is going through my mind since all I’ve been reading the past week is business-related claptrap.
Not looking like a gorilla is a good thing, I imagine. This does mean, however, you could attend any number of emo-themed gigs and blend in seamlessly with the crowd while simultaneously deconstructing the inordinate level of suck your ears are trying to comprehend. Use this power.