Half Done
I finished the paper I was writing yesterday. It was a very in depth look at interspecies competition. Finishing it reminded me what a great feeling that is. If you've never been to university or you've never published a book/article you won't know the full joy of finishing a large, in depth research paper. It's so nice to be done all of a sudden. One minute you feel like you have so much to do and the next you are free to do what you like. It's so nice.
But I'm only half done. I have another big paper to write for a class called production and food chains in the ocean. This is a very interesting class, in my opinion. We studied from plankton on up. We learned about the processes that drive the systematic flow of energy from the sun all the through to the top. And we did this by going out to sea and collecting samples and then spending the rest of the semester analyzing the samples. Our instructors are three men for the Marine Research Institute and they all have a lot of interest and knowledge. I give the class 8 out of 10.
This morning I went out to the car and sat down. I was tired, it being way too early to be waking up, and was just having a moment of solitary silence before driving to school. Then I made the mistake of turning my head. You see, on the window to my left was a blotch of magic marker or lip stick or paint or something. Someone thought it would be a good idea to go into my car (I never lock it because I live in such a small town with no crime and keep nothing of value in the car anyway) and color in a patch of the window that is at exactly the same height as my eyes when I'm sitting in the car. Surprisingly, I only got a little bit angry. I say surprisingly because I have a tendency to lose my head at some very small offenses. But my question is, why do people do that sort of thing? I've never understood vandalism. What does the vandal get from breaking something or marking something with an ugly paint or marker scribble? Even as a teenager (and teenage boys are most often the accused in the event of vandalism) I thought it was completely pointless. I had a couple of friends who thought it was funny. I'm not saying that I was a perfect child. But this is just something I don't get. No, I can understand it better if there is some personal reason behind the damage. you know, you get angry with the principal who sentenced you to stay after school as punishment for something and you got to his house with a paper bag filled with dog poo and light it on fire on the porch before ringing the door bell or something. But reasonless damage is something I don't get. On the other hand, it could be that our car was singled out because my wife is teaching the problem kids in town. Maybe they got angry with her yesterday and decided to take their adolescent frustrations out on the car.
So, am I angry? Not really. I'll just go home tonight and calmly ask my family if they know anything about it-because my son did once use a rock to inscribe his initial in the paint on the door of my car-and then break out the acetone to clean it up. I think it's magic marker and thus fiarly easy to clean off glass. I'm more worried about where this sort of behavior will turn as these kids grow up and become less innocent.
But I'm only half done. I have another big paper to write for a class called production and food chains in the ocean. This is a very interesting class, in my opinion. We studied from plankton on up. We learned about the processes that drive the systematic flow of energy from the sun all the through to the top. And we did this by going out to sea and collecting samples and then spending the rest of the semester analyzing the samples. Our instructors are three men for the Marine Research Institute and they all have a lot of interest and knowledge. I give the class 8 out of 10.
This morning I went out to the car and sat down. I was tired, it being way too early to be waking up, and was just having a moment of solitary silence before driving to school. Then I made the mistake of turning my head. You see, on the window to my left was a blotch of magic marker or lip stick or paint or something. Someone thought it would be a good idea to go into my car (I never lock it because I live in such a small town with no crime and keep nothing of value in the car anyway) and color in a patch of the window that is at exactly the same height as my eyes when I'm sitting in the car. Surprisingly, I only got a little bit angry. I say surprisingly because I have a tendency to lose my head at some very small offenses. But my question is, why do people do that sort of thing? I've never understood vandalism. What does the vandal get from breaking something or marking something with an ugly paint or marker scribble? Even as a teenager (and teenage boys are most often the accused in the event of vandalism) I thought it was completely pointless. I had a couple of friends who thought it was funny. I'm not saying that I was a perfect child. But this is just something I don't get. No, I can understand it better if there is some personal reason behind the damage. you know, you get angry with the principal who sentenced you to stay after school as punishment for something and you got to his house with a paper bag filled with dog poo and light it on fire on the porch before ringing the door bell or something. But reasonless damage is something I don't get. On the other hand, it could be that our car was singled out because my wife is teaching the problem kids in town. Maybe they got angry with her yesterday and decided to take their adolescent frustrations out on the car.
So, am I angry? Not really. I'll just go home tonight and calmly ask my family if they know anything about it-because my son did once use a rock to inscribe his initial in the paint on the door of my car-and then break out the acetone to clean it up. I think it's magic marker and thus fiarly easy to clean off glass. I'm more worried about where this sort of behavior will turn as these kids grow up and become less innocent.
posted by Our Hero, at 7:53 AM
3 Comments:
Good luck with the papers. Sometimes the work never seems to end but feels good to use your mind.
-Victoria
I can certainly sympathize with you on your car being vandalized. I recently got a used car (a Kia Spectra) and within three months someone had scratched my trunk with their keys twice. What is most disturbing is that vandalism is not common over here which leads me to believe that one of my neighbors resents a foreigner having a car. To make things even works Korean kids generally don’t carry keys so it was undoubtedly an adult. Much like you, I'm not particularly upset over this. Sure if I caught the (insert the swear word of your choice here) I would be plenty angry but I don't see much point in screaming at the universe.
I had forgotten about this post and I'm glad that Paul posted the comment. Later on that day I was talking to Inga about it and found out that she painted the blob of pink-purple with a new window paint that she bought for school. She was waiting for Dagbjört at the airport and decided to try out her newly purchased paint and then forgot to wash it off when she got home.
I only had to use a wet cloth to clean it. So, even the aggravation I felt was hardly needed.
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