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Weblog | I don't like the word blog, it's ugly. Anyway, new content happens here. (Swedish dito)

About me and the site | Twenty-something male who likes text. Obsessed with things such as books, reality, communication, and one or two tv-shows.

Archives | Things written here since... well, 2001. Some of it is good, some is utter shait.

Books | Books read, not books written. So far I've struggled to maintain unpublished.

Photo | I like my camera and it likes me.

Links | Outwards, away, flee.

e-mail | J. Nicklas Andersson

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2002-05-02

How hard can things get? I’ve asked myself that question a couple of times, most of them I’ve responded with a shrug and let things sort themselves out. This time, however, it seems a lot worse. I have, to no surprise of my readers, another exam coming up this Saturday. I have no idea how to study this, the lecturers don’t provide much help either.

When asked about what it is we should know, they shrug and give an answer that raises even more questions. So, this exam will probably be more difficult than to track down songs by Cat’s Laughing. At least now, it seems impossible.

From impossible to possible, I’ll have to rewrite nine more pages for the fanzine. I’ve been notoriously bad at rewriting so to my dismay I found that the new text was much better than the first version. Damnation. This means that I will rewrite more things in the future instead of the usual draft=finished product philosophy.

I wish it could be Saturday afternoon, after the test. I want to read books of my own choice. John Crowley or China Miéville. Perhaps even, dare I say it, Christopher Priest? And on Monday the hell begins again. A new course and this time with lots and lots of books to buy. I’m a poor starving student, limited both financially and by my lack of people skills. Can’t they see that? What the hell is wrong with these people?

Ehm. Sorry for the outburst. Move along, there is nothing to see here.

I sat down and let my thought go out for a walk. Usually they bring back something interesting. This time it was something that had been dormant since I read John Sladek’s The Reproductive System. It is about how a company tries to milk the government on money by creating a useless machine that reproduces itself. They succeed of course and something goes wrong. It is a comedy and this is not the main point of the story.

This reproductive system is a bit like words and opinions (they are of course closely intervened even though it might not seem like it at a casual glance). They spread at an alarming rate and at one time or another something will go wrong. The meaning mutates into something else or someone forgets important parts of the idea behind the words. Logically, this would not happen anymore. Not in a digital forum, where everything is stored and everyone can read the original wordings. The possibilities for misunderstanding should be almost down to zero. This proves that this is not a perfect world, as we?re being even more hypersensitive that before.

“You wrote ?control? on index.html and ?weapon of choice? on music.html! Stop trying to disarm me. I like my guns dipshit!”

We need to reclaim the words and their meanings, may they be actual or metaphorical, from those who abuse them. To make people actually read with their heads instead of their collected bile. Otherwise, the languages will turn against us because despite what most people believe, languages are living beings. They breathe and have an agenda of their own. They demand respect. R-e-s-p-e-c-t (or as they said in a Frantic-sketch “R-E-C-P-T-U. R-Q-C. They?re not bright, but they are enthusiastic: why not hire a student this summer?”) Look up the word in a dictionary.

I?ve said mine, now it?s your turn.

Michael Moorcock is recovering from his surgery. He seems fine and according to Ansible #178, only lost two toes. They will not be sold on e-Bay as planned as the doctors kept them to themselves. Some people are just too greedy for their own good.

But all in all, this is good news considering the death ratio of April. Please stop with this, it is not funny at all.