no certainty here . . . I think

[diesel_powered]

I'm all about the fold on dumps. Wadding is far too inefficient for my tastes.

[Ignatius]

Whenever I say or hear the word 'dump' I imagine this guy dressed in dark green camo, like a hunter, with his buddy in the tramped-down rushes. There's a stream nearby, and he's dumping(!) this big white bait bucket, like a repurposed roof coat bucket or something. There's all kinds of vague brown tadpole things in the bucket that squirm out in the creek, and some of it splashes back onto his shins. His buddy, who is standing and smiling nearby, also dressed up in camouflage, is Walter Mondale.  This image is constantly and necessarily associated with the term 'dump.' It used to terrify me how quickly it came up - someone said dump, and whatever was going on in front of me would give way to the dump-image. It was terrifying, in its own way, especially when I determined it was time for me to take my own dump. Nonetheless, it is my favorite word that means poop.

[andronicus]

Ignatius, you are my friend.

[Ignatius]

The sad thing is, my childhood was full of special terms like that which were automatically associated with really concrete and detailed images, and that's the only one I've held onto. I think it's because when I was in second or third grade, I watched Swamp Thing with my brothers. For the most part, the swampy atmosphere had no effect on me. But that one scene in open water, when they're trying to lure him with the unattractive woman, and he's hanging back in the rushes? That seared the necessary background for Walter and his dump-bucket friend into my mind.

[Ignatius]

I am proud to be your friend.

[diesel_powered]

Between that and the cheese quiz, you have enriched my life in ways you'll never know.

[Ignatius]

That's all I've got. After 7th grade or so, I started staying up nights to read about castlevania and ninjas on the internet, and hang out in IRC channels dedicated either to blink 182 or sonic the hedgehog. That's when my imagination died absolutely.

[diesel_powered]

It's too bad. I feel we both would have benefited from being sent to some manner of School for Eccentric Children.

[Ignatius]

WELL, I was no outcast, really. I got along with my classmates pretty well, and I don't think I'd have preferred it any other way. If anything, being a little bit more weird than the other kids, that was my edge.

[diesel_powered]

Not so much to avoid being an outcast, more that such weirdness rarely gets the support it deserves.

[Ignatius]

It gets support when Uncle Bob wants to know where a sixth-grader ranks his understanding of cheese.

[Andrew_TSKS]

The sad thing is, my childhood was full of special terms like that which were automatically associated with really concrete and detailed images

Me too, in a big way. Sometimes someone will say a phrase that used to evoke one of them and it'll come rushing back, out of nowhere.

[Ignatius]

I suppose at the time it was kind of annoying to hear a word used in an off-hand way and have no choice over this image popping up in your head. Ideally, I'd be able to recall them at will because they were just so weird...

[Antero]

I swear to god my guitars were rearranged while I slept.  Nothing else, just the guitars.  Am I going insane?  Do I need to sleep more?

[diesel_powered]

Probably both.

[alex]

Uh. I...I just submitted a paper proposal to a conference that I didn't even know existed before 2 hours ago?

Hey, so, this got accepted. Which leaves me with only the following uncertainties about the issue:

- it is a week before I present about my PhD project (the paper in question is unrelated) at another conference
- which, in turn, is a week before this other conference that I also want to present at (again on my PhD project: essentially, I'll give the same paper twice, though in different languages)
- I've never even presented at an academic conference before, so it's not even like I'm a pro at this. At all.

[Greg Nog]

Nice!  You're about to become a pro, right quick!

[auto-da-fey]

congrats, alex! you should be fine, just be sure to get enough sleep the night beforehand so you don't wind up with eyes so dry that they begin tearing up on page 3 of 12, causing a painful burning sensation and leading to bad jokes about being emotionally invested in your work that draw no laughter. that's the only bad thing that's ever happened to me at a conference, otherwise it's all random questions, audience disinterest, seeing big-name scholars pull crazy diva shit, and getting hit on by genders you're not so into sexually (this last part possibly semi-unique to straight dudes in queer studies). 

[jess]

Also don't be like one girl I traveled to a conference with, who packed her professional clothes in her checked bag, which got stuck in transit for a day, and had to present in her day old travel outfit of jeans and such. But yeah, I'm sure you'll kick ass!

Also the big names pulling crazy diva shit has to be one of the strangest and most awesome part of conferences. I definitely ruled out a few potential graduate mentors in part after seeing them in action...

[auto-da-fey]

my favorite is still the prominent female queer theorist/historian/sex-positive feminist who pulled this shy, sweet grad student who worked on frat culture aside and scolded him, "are you one of those fags who's ashamed to be a man? I hate that, cut it out," leaving him shaken, terrified, and traumatized.

I felt really bad for him at the time, but he's on the tenure track now, so fuck him (j/k! I wouldn't want to be where he is!). but I was really bummed to see someone whose work I greatly admired act so awfully--it's different when it's someone like Michael Stipe and you expect him to be an asshole, but it's like, hey, what happened to feminist praxis?!?

[Anne the Man]

I think I've made my perpetually happy friend rather unhappy, and I can't help it cos I had a right to say what I did and I tried to say it as well as possible but it still didn't work. I don't really know what to do to fix it without compromising my own feelings too much. Gah.

[auto-da-fey]

I guess there's no need for me to shower today, since it's already after 11 and I can't go running because of rain, but I might anyway for the sheer psychological reassurance not being somebody who doesn't shower every day provides. but then ZOOP is coming up and there are apparently no showers there, so I could also frame this as prep.

once I begin making posts like this, I think I may have drained my productivity well dry for the day.

[auto-da-fey]

new uncertainty thread here:
http://www.lastplanetojakarta.com/forums/index.php/topic,11828.msg595197.html#msg595197